Send Me A Song
by Altiria-Aty
Summary: Shanks is a pirate, and pirates take any chance they can to sing, especially when their soul-mates can hear them. Traveling the seas is the best way to find your soul-mate, and it's a small part of why Shanks went out to sea in the first place. The problem is, Shanks seems to be the only person in the Roger Pirates crew who's soul-mate simple refuses to sing.
1. We've Got Scurvy

_"Yo ho ho ho, yo ho ho ho."_

It was that song again.

Holly's eyes slid closed as she softly swayed along with the words she didn't understand but had long ago memorized. Never had she heard what it sounded like with full instruments, she didn't know what it would sound like sung by a dozen voices. All she knew was that it was one of the few songs her soul mate knew. One of the few he'd sing again and again with a voice that danced with joy and excitement.

"Binkusu no sake wa," she said softly to herself, never allowing her voice to change into a song. She could speak the lines only; for if she dared properly sing, Holly knew she'd suffer for it. The first and only time she'd sung, she had been taught a painful lesson by her aunt.

Now she only ever mouthed the words during school sing-alongs. Holly knew better than to bring upon her aunt's ire.

_"Sora nya wao, kaku tori no uta~."_

She swayed even if she didn't understand a single word of the song. Oh, Holly had most certainly tried to find the language, she'd failed quite brutally. It was not any language currently known across the world. No matter what book she read or what language she sought for, it appeared not to exist.

Except it did, because her soul-mate sang in it.

It seems Petunia was right; Holly was a freak. It was clear from the way her soul mate sang in what her aunt would most likely call tongues.

"'Bink-usu no sake wo, todokeni yuku yo,'" she said instead of sang attempting to copy the language her soul-mate sang it. At the same time, he eagerly belted the same words, his voice slightly slurred. He sounded like her uncle did when he was drinking; which meant her soul mate was drunk, another thing for her aunt to laugh at. For, of course, her soul-mate was like her 'drunk' of a father that had gotten himself and her mother killed. Drunk or not, he sounded like he was having fun.

She wished she could sing along with him. How would he react, she wondered, to know his soul mate was her. A pathetic freak who couldn't do anything right, who was trapped in a cupboard and would never sing. Like a caged bird, she thought.

It was unheard of for people not to sing and those that didn't were stared at with such fierce pity. Those that had permanently lost their voices, those that were mute were like leapers. Everyone sang, everyone. Singing was how you found your soul mate; their songs was the one in your ears. The only way to locate them was to sing to them hints, which is why people had songs for everything.

Honestly, even her relatives sang. Holly had caught her cousin singing about brushing his teeth, though he tended to get winded quite quickly and never finished any song he started. Petunia meanwhile warbled hers like some incredibly bizarre bird. Holly could admit Petunia's voice was kinder than her personality at least. Vernon meanwhile was like a dying cat rasping and choking while trying to hack up a lung.

Holly ruthlessly preferred her soul mate to their voices. Every song he sang was filled with endless enthusiasm and energy. Her soul mate sang like every moment could be his last, and like he wanted the pleasure of every note. It was soothing to her and by the sheer amount he sang Holly was often only able to sleep if his voice was in her head.

She didn't know, let alone remember, what her own singing voice sounded like. She couldn't remember that the only time she'd sung was when her mother had danced her around her nursery. Back then, what came out of her mouth had been complete gibberish, but it had been singing. Unfortunately back then her other half had been too young to realize what it was and certainly didn't remember it either.

_"Yo hohoho Yo hohoho~."_

"Yo ho ho ho," she whispered wishing so dearly that she could respond to him.

* * *

Shanks sat arms over the railing of the Oro Jackson as he sighed. The rest of the crew was singing nearby in full party mode. Usually, Shanks would be eager to join them, to sing at full volume, to enjoy himself and dance the night away. But the fact was Buggy's harsh words spoken earlier in the day had gotten to him. Shanks seemed to be the only person in the entire crew that did not seem to have a soul-mate. Shanks had been convinced for a long time that his soul-mate simply didn't like to sing, that eventually, he'd get them to crack with his own voice. But after so long without a peep, he was beginning to doubt he even had one.

As he sat, a form dropped beside him, Shanks glanced to the side and looked up at Roger, who crossed his legs and got comfortable.

"Any luck tonight?" Roger asked after the barest moment of silence as he smiled underneath his mustache.

Shanks sighed, dropping his head to his chest, he looked away shaking his head in a negative. Roger hummed and looked skyward leaning back slightly and almost tipping too far. "A stubborn lass you've got."

"Stubborn is right," Shanks bemoaned his luck relaxing in the fact that Roger wasn't going to tease him for his silent soul-mate. It eased his heart that Roger thought Shanks had one, a stubborn one, but one at all. In the crew, everyone did after all, and as they partied, their soul-mates sang along. Many of them had even met their soul mates during their travel across the seas. In fact, Roger himself had recently discovered his match, a beautiful woman named Rouge who was sailing with them in disguise.

The truth was everyone on the crew had heard their other half sing, even Buggy! Everyone that was, but Shanks. He'd never heard their voice, not a word, not a hum, not even a couple sing-song'd words. His theories of why that was changed every day, maybe she didn't like to sing, perhaps she was mute, perhaps she was too young to sing, maybe her tongue had been cut out - and if it had, he'd hunt down the person that had done that to his soul-mate, and would rip them apart.

"Don't look so upset kid," Roger pat his back, "She's around, we'll get her eventually! After all, how could she possibly resist these songs! She can't! We'll coax her out sooner or later!"

Shanks gave a half-hearted smile and a small nod, he had to have faith. She'd have to respond to a song eventually; no one could resist singing forever.

"She probably just hates your voice," Buggy snarked from nearby trying to recover from his earlier comment which he'd begun to regret, "she'd sing if you didn't warble like a dying newscoo,"

"It's more likely she's shy, or young," Rayleigh said shoving Buggy away by swatting him over the back of his head because that was not helpful.

Shanks thought over Rayleigh's words as Buggy yelped and fled, he knew it was possible, but bizarre coming from his mouth considering what Rayleigh's Shakky was like.

Roger nodded confident in his first mate's words: "Aye, she could be shy! Let's try Another round! We'll get Shanks' girl to sing! BINKS SAKE!" Roger cried, and the crew yelled eagerly. Shanks smiled a bit his captain was right; one day, one day she'd crack and then he'd find her. It was only a matter of time.

* * *

_"Our gums are black, our teeth are falling out."_

Holly clamped her lips shut and shot a wide-eyed look toward her aunt, the woman had a sixth sense to know when Holly's soul-mate was singing. Holly prayed the woman didn't realize, didn't notice, and punish her. After all, Holly was already on thin ice since Miss Figg - whose singing voice was shockingly pretty even if she only ever sang about cats - wasn't able to babysit her that day. Instead, Holly was going to be going to the zoo with Dudley which she honestly had mixed feelings about.

_"We've got spots on our backs! So give it up and shout."_

They piled into the cart, leaving her in the middle, which was a disaster in the making. She spent the whole drive being punched and bruised by her cousin and his friend as they screamed along to the radio while she remained silent.

_"We've got scurvy! We need some vitamin C"_

Holly followed her aunt and uncle ghosting behind them as quietly as she could. As she did later soul-mate sang a multitude of songs all in that same language. From the song, she knew the best to the others that were new and exciting to her.

She reasoned he must be having a singing party. Different cities and towns collected together to sing songs once a month, each song was set to a location. That way, you could research the song you heard and match it to an area getting a better idea of where your soul mate would be.

Holly personally wasn't allowed to use the computer at home, it was Dudley's, but the one at the school she'd taken full advantage of. She'd researched every song her soul mate sang trying to find both the language and location for the song. Both had come up empty.

_"A pirate ain't worthy, till he got some scurvy!"_

Music classes had become a problematic thing for Holly, she wasn't allowed to sing, but her teachers expected her to. Thankfully she'd been able to take up an instrument - which no one ever wanted to do, why would they? When they could sing instead. Holly used it to cover up that she was only ever mouthing the words to her class songs, instead of really singing them. Holly knew if she did then somehow, someway her aunt would find out and Holly wasn't willing to suffer the punishment. Especially since Holly knew the truth 'freaks don't deserve soul mates.'

They passed a group of people watching the various animals a few were lightly singing. One woman was singing the lion king while watching the lions and had all kinds of children belting out with her uncertain of the words but uncaring. Holly bounced slightly as they passed. She'd always been quite fond of 'the lion sleeps tonight,' and the woman had a lovely singing voice.

_"You unnerve me when you sing that song. Scurvy!"_

They entered the reptile house, and Holly accidentally hummed for a brief second under her breath. Her aunt shot her a sharp look and Holly blanched. She rushed forward avoiding her aunt's hand, not that it would make a difference for long, her aunt had heard. When they got home, Holly would suffer for joining in on her soul mates song.

Unfortunately, Holly would be doomed either way, because apparently, she could talk to snakes.


	2. Do The Hippogriff

Holly was a witch, an honest to goodness cauldron brewing, owl owning, wand waving, broomstick flying magical witch. Eleven years of life and Holly had always thought she'd been nothing more than a freak. That all the odd things that occurred to Holly really were because she was abnormal and wrong. All her life Holly had believed all the lies her aunt fed her, that everything she got she deserved; that her parents died because of her, that her soulmate wouldn't accept her either because she was a freak and freaks didn't deserve soulmates. Now she knew the truth. She wasn't abnormal, she wasn't a monster, and her parents were not drunks; they had been heroes, and they had saved her life from an insane dark lord.

Now Holly's entire life had changed. She had money for one, enough to pay for her schooling and much much more. She was now going to a school of magic. She now had friends in Ron and Hermione; though the first thing Ron had done was ask about her scar. It wasn't a huge deal since the first thing Hermione had done had been to insult Ron and Holly both. But Holly was still happy to have them, her first friends, first real friends.

One of the first things Ron had told her when they met was all about the girls' voice in his head, how she sang so quietly that sometimes he was never sure she was singing, but that he stilled adored her. While Hermione had spoken in great detail about the accent her soulmate had and how she knew he had to live somewhere in Bulgaria - she also claimed she'd learned to speak Bulgarian due to the songs he sang. Holly, in return, had hedged her answers speaking of what she did know, which was next to nothing considering the language her soulmate spoke in didn't exist.

Hogwarts, in the end, wasn't too different from the rest of the world when it came to soulmates; namely singing and songs were as important as ever. Everywhere Holly went, she heard the conversations, with a slightly different context.

"Double double toil and trouble~."

"Have you heard that new weird sisters song?"

"Her voice is like a siren-"

In Hogwarts lessons were given every Wednesday on singing, pitch, and figuring out your soulmate from songs were key lessons, but mostly they just sang. Holly had found herself frozen in terror when the Professor asked her what she'd like to do, she'd been terrified he'd ask her to sing. She'd managed to stutter out that she could play an instrument, which caused everyone to stare at her as she accepted an violin instead of singing. Which unfortunately for her, caused quite a few rumors to spread about how Holly Potter didn't want anyone to know what her singing voice was like. They all assumed it to make sure no one tricked her because she was a celebrity, no one suspected Holly had never sung before which was unheard of.

Despite learning she wasn't a freak, despite knowing her aunt would have no idea if she sang at Hogwarts, Holly still couldn't use her voice. Holly would allow her soulmate to warble on, singing every day and night all kinds of music as if begging her to join it. He never gave up, eleven years, and he was unwilling. He sang jaunty tunes during her lessons - angering Snape on more than one occasion as she caught her swaying to the song. He kept on to the point that she'd long ago memorized every song he sang whether or not she knew the meanings of the words or not. Yet months into her first year at Hogwarts and Holly hadn't sung once. Not in their lessons, not in the hallway, not in the shower, or even during her quidditch team bonding sessions. Not a single note had passed her lips, and no doubt none would.

Unknowingly Holly was beginning to scare Albus Dumbledore with her silence. He'd been watching her progress through the year, especially during music lessons and he'd noticed her habit of mouthing along or going with an instrument. The pattern was eerily familiar to another little boy who years ago had done the same thing. Tom Riddle had never sung either, refusing to do so ever. He'd refused to acknowledge he could even possess a soulmate, let alone let himself sing and confirm it for his other half. Riddle had always considered them a weakness, and Albus worried Holly would do the same while following in Riddle's path.

This changed in November. After the troll attacked the school where Hermione had been hiding in the bathrooms after Ron insulted her singing. After Hermione joined their group, she had started to join Ron and Holly during their music lessons. Which meant she was right beside Holly on the girls' side of the room, allowing her to see quite plainly that Holly was mouthing along to every song they sang. Then Hermione Jean Granger decided she needed to know why that was happening, and Hermione had never been very good at denying her curiosity.

_"Hey ho Sabastian,"_ sang her soul-mate as Holly got comfortable in the common room while doing her homework with Ron; Hermione naturally had finished her own several days ago. Perched on her chair with her work on her needs Holly swayed a bit her fingers absently tapping on the arm of her chair. Her soulmate had been singing that one quite a lot recently, he had learned it only a month prior and he clearly enjoyed it.

Across from her, Hermione's eyes narrowed on her tapping fingers, then up to her mouth. Once again, Holly was mouthing the words of a song in habit, and yet wasn't verbalizing them: "Holly." Hermione finally cracked, "can I ask you a question?"

"Sure 'Mione." Holly set aside her homework her, hand flattening as she stopped tapping to focus. Yet her soulmate continued on in her head singing softly, quietly due to the late hour.

Hesitating only a moment Hermione scooted forward, beside her Ron lowered his own book giving them his attention; anything to distract himself he decided. "Why don't you sing?" she blurted out.

Holly's eyes flew wide as she scooted back on her own chair, her books lifted as she placed them between her and Hermione, almost a shield: "I… what are you talking about? Of course I sing, I sing every lesson-"

Hermione shook her head, her curls flying out: "That's fake singing, you're only mouthing along."

"Of course I don't-"

"You do," Ron spoke up setting aside his own work, "I was wondering about that too."

Holly glanced between them, she reached up a hand distractedly and tugged at the skin of her lips. Before she snapped her hand down recalling her aunt yelling at her for the habit, an echo of the punishments that had built up every time she'd gotten even close to singing. Holly's eyes clamped shut, her hands clasping in her lap. She reminded herself that Ron and Hermione were her friends, and they'd never tell her aunt; they'd never even meet her aunt if Holly had anything to do with it. So gingerly Holly whispered a confession she'd never spoken of before: "I've… I've never sung, I wasn't allowed to."

"Wait, never?!" Ron blurted out. Holly flinched minutely then hopelessly nodded unable to look at either of them. "But then, how does your soulmate know how to find you?"

"They wouldn't… he sings doesn't he? Or they I guess? She?"

"He," Holly confirmed for Hermione who hadn't known, "I guess he wouldn't know."

"Well then." Hermione straightened up giving Ron a look, Ron nodded to her reading her quickly despite the short time they'd been friends, "I guess you just have to sing now then. A short song, right here, right now; to make sure he knows." She gestured around the common room when Holly gasped snapping her head up, "it's just Ron and me here, it's minimal pressure."

"Yeah, and we'll sing with you." Ron agreed as he made a show of checking for people in the darker areas to make her feel secure.

Still, Holly hesitated.

Holly's aunt wasn't here. Petunia would never find out… and she knew now that she wasn't a freak that didn't deserve a soulmate. Still, Holly couldn't help but think the worse; maybe he wouldn't like her, perhaps he didn't want her like her aunt and uncle claimed. Perhaps he'd hate her for making him wait for so long, or perhaps he'd be put off by what would surely be a terrible singing voice. Or maybe they'd never find each other like so many other pairs.

Singing she knew made everything real. It made her soulmate aware of her when he might currently believe she didn't exist and might be happy with that.

Tugging at her lip again Holly heard her soulmate in her head, singing ever on despite Holly never responding to him. He'd returned to his favorite song what she assumed was called Bink's sake. That one she knew by heart even if she didn't understand the words. She glanced at Hermione who gave her an encouraging nod, and at Ron who copied the muggles thumbs up.

He… he deserved to know. To know he at least had a soulmate, even if Holly was a terrible one. They deserved a chance, a chance to be like her parents, a chance to be happy.

She opened her mouth and choked out the words she'd never sung; "B-b-bikusu no sake no todoe no yuku yo." But Hermione and Ron shook their heads.

"That's just talking Holly, you gotta make it more… singy." Ron told her scooting forward until he was knee to knee with her.

"Singy isn't a word Ronald." Hermione moved a seat over till she was beside Holly as well, she took Holly's hand stopping her gently from tugging at her lips.

"Well, how else would you describe it?!"

Hermione huffed, smothering her desire to know what language Holly was speaking it, she'd never heard of it. She'd have to look in the library right away for it. "Just do it like he does it… make it-" she sighed, "'singy.'"

"O…okay uhm… umi-kaze kimekase na- mi- err… mimakase~" she was stumbling over the awkward wording and accent, but she was doing it. For the first time in her life, Holly was singing.

In an entirely different world, Shanks was sitting in the crows' nest with his legs hanging. Beside him lay a snoozing Buggy - who wasn't supposed to be sleeping and if Rayleigh caught him, Shanks' would be all manner of trouble. Shanks didn't really care either way if Buggy was caught, he wasn't responsible for the other cabin boy - that said it was much too quiet when Buggy was sleeping. Instead, Shanks was loosely looking around the dark ocean while he practiced his haki. Absently Shanks sang binks' sake while his fingers blackened before he lost control again.

Shanks sighed lightly as he thought of the day. The crew had been awoken by the man on watch screaming about marines - which was why Shanks was actually paying so much attention to the ocean and why Buggy would be worse off if he were caught sleeping. The marines had forced them into battle, a battle that had killed one of their own. The poor soul had been brand new to the crew and had died instantly from some shrapnel from a cannon blast which Roger had redirected. Roger had been both devastated and furious, he'd lost control of his haki and Shanks didn't remember much after that. He'd come to hours later in bed with Miss Rouge asking him to keep watch since most of the crew were drinking away their sorrows. Shanks wasn't technically allowed to drink, and the crew knew better now than to let him sneak some of the drink. The previous time he'd tried Rayleigh had caught him absolutely sloshed, and he'd suffered for it.

Hours later, Shanks had been joined by the now sleeping Buggy, and his louder singing had faded into the soft words he was singing into the night. As always, his soulmate refused to respond to him, and as much as Shanks loved to sing and party, he was finding it difficult to continue on alone.

Then he heard it-

_"umi-kaze kimekase nami… -mimakase~"_

Shanks choked on air flailing and nearly falling right out of the crows' nest as he gave a choked up scream. Buggy beside him snorted and woke with a cry that caused a bit of chaos down below. The crew convinced that they'd just raised the alarm; not that Shanks noticed at all because his soul-mate was SINGING.

"Shanks what the f-"

"Shut it!" he snapped his hand over Buggy's mouth hears straining desperately. She was quiet, singing so softly that he was convinced he had been mistaken for a moment. Shanks clamped a hand over his mouth and stopped breathing entirely to silence himself. He even pleaded for his too loud heart to just stop a moment, so he didn't hear it's throbbing in his desperately searching ears. It didn't; instead, it grew louder when she continued. She continued!

Overwhelmed and clueless at how he was supposed to feel after all this time, all Shanks could do was choke out the words to a still flailing Buggy. "I have a soul-mate." His eyes burned as he grabbed his shoulders and curled up. Shanks was glad he was already sitting down because he knew if he'd been standing, he surely would have fallen in the sheer joy of that moment.

She was real, she was singing! His soulmate was real!

In his head, his soul-mate stumbled over the song he knew by heart as if she couldn't quite wrap her tongue around the words. Shanks found it adorable no matter how awkward, tentative, and soft-spoken it was. She was lovely he decided, beautiful, perfect, and all his. He recalled everything the crew had told him about soulmates to comfort and teach him. How he'd be her other half, how he would protect her, but also fight with her if she wanted to like Miss Rouge said. He'd show her the world and seas like Roger told him. And he'd love her- he already loved her.

Shanks pressed his hands to his mouth as a smile split across his face, and he eagerly belted out, "Yo hohohoho! Yo hohoho!" ignoring the furious complaints below and beside him as well as Rayleigh's demands to know why they'd just set off a false alarm after the day they'd had. He didn't care as Buggy sobbed at the first-mate apologizing profusely having been caught out sleeping or when his soulmate temporarily stuttered to a stop when he joined in; before starting up once more sounding a touch more confident. Didn't notice Roger standing below finally relaxing as he puffed up as proud as he possibly could already having guessed while Shanks' mood had turned so quickly.

Together he sang with his adorable soul-mate, and knew one day he'd find her.

* * *

"It's like facing your fears or something," Ron told Holly emphatically, "the more you sing, the less nervous you'll be about it."

With Hermione on vacation, she'd put Ron on a mission and Holly on a different one. Holly's was to locate who in Merlin's name Nickolas Flamel was; while Ron's was for him to get Holly to sing more often. So bored of hunting through the library he sat practically nose to nose with her and was 'ordering' her to sing. "I'll even sing with you, it'll be fine."

Wincing Holly glanced around the library which was completely empty before nodding. Her soul-mate sang constantly now encouraged by her own response; his voice echoed in her head all the time, and she honestly didn't mind. Though he was also quick to become very quickly depressed because it was a rare occasion that Holly ever sang with him. It broke her heart with how depressed he could make his songs sound as time progressed. Her soulmate was excellent at a guilt trip through song she decided.

"Okay," Ron clapped his hands to his knees leaning back a bit to her relief, "that weird sister's song then, you know the lyrics to that right?" he tilted his head, "unless you wanna sing a Christmas song? Dad told me muggles have lots of those"

"'Do the Hippogriff' is fine," she rushed to say having learned what Ron's dad thought Christmas songs sounded like.

"Brilliant!" Ron straightened happily and began with enthusiasm as he pretended to play guitar in his seat. He was convinced the odder he acted, the more secure Holly would feel, so Ron went all out. "move your body like a hairy troll~" he gestured at her eagerly while a voice in his own head joined him whispering along, but still singing. As Ron told Holly before, his soulmate sang as if she was terrified of being overheard. Yet the past few months - since the start of his year at Hogwarts actually - she'd gained more and more volume which made him wonder, especially when she started singing the same songs he was in their lessons, but on a different day.

Holly licked her lips choking slightly on the next line. But she managed to force it through her teeth "L-Learning t-to ro-ck and roll~" goodness she sounded like Quirrel!

Ron beamed though, proud of his best friend for trying when it was clear she was terrified. Happily, he sang the next line encouraging Holly to join him, "spin around like a crazy elf~" he pushed off the chair and took Holly's hands heading tilted in question. Holly blushed, accepted it, and allowed him to pull her up. She'd could dance at least, her aunt hadn't forbidden her from doing that.

In another world, Shanks froze in the middle of a training match with Rayleigh and was struck across the face and sent flying into a nearby railing. But he didn't even care as he gave a dazed smile to the skies.

"Brat what was that?!" Reyleigh demanded.

"Shush!" Shanks urged frozen in his spot. His soulmate was singing again, which in itself was exciting, but the language? He'd never heard of such words before.

_"No stoppin' to the break of dawn~."_

Shanks had traveled all over the blues, to countless different islands, and several had possessed different languages. But he'd never heard one like that before. Wordlessly he mouthed the odd words to himself as Rayleigh through up his hands in exasperation.

_"Put your hands up in the air~."_

"What's wrong with him?" Buggy asked as he leaned on his wooden training sword also pausing..

"His soul-mate his singing again," Rayleigh guessed, "not sure why it's affecting his training though," he emphasized trying to reclaim Shanks' attention, "considering how he acts like this every time, he's going to get himself killed early, and before he meets her."

_"Can you dance like a hippogriff. Ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma"_

"Ma ma ma ma ma." Shanks repeated, bouncing a bit to the odd song, "Rayleigh have you heard this language before?" he repeated it loosely, tripping over the words. And suddenly it made sense why she couldn't sing his own songs properly if that was what her regular language sounded like.

Rayleigh listened carefully before shaking his head, "never heard it, try the captain after training. He can understand most things- not right now! Shanks! You still have training!" Rayleigh gave up on him for the time being, Shanks was clearly useless and would be until he got used to his soulmates voice in his head: "Buggy, front and center, your turn!"

"WHAT? Noo!"

Shanks ignored them and rushed off for the captains quarters at a run. He paused halfway through to do a little jig as his soul-mate got a bit more into the song she was singing. "Na na na, ma ma ma~" he sang with her picking up on the chorus. She heard her stop for a brief moment and froze, had he… had he scared her? Shit, should he have not-

_"M-move around like a spooky ghost."_

"Yes!" he punched the air and rushed on.

Holly giggled as Ron spun her around in the library, the pair of them acting like the creatures in the song they were singing. She was surprised Madam Price hadn't kicked them out yet especially since Ron and Holly's singing and dancing had dragged George and Fred from the bowls of the castle. Both the twins had joined in, and the four of them were dancing in a semi-circle. The twins grabbed both her hands and spun her around. Then as they sang the chorus, she heard a voice align with hers as her soul mate attempted to join her. Holly honestly faltered slightly, it made her nervous and self-conscious. But… but he sounded so eager... like he actually enjoyed it as much as she enjoyed hearing him in return.

George and Fred both nudged her at the same time, and she picked back up. As she did, she smiled to herself and decided she rather liked to sing.

* * *

Shanks was over the sky islands with joy; because now that she'd sung once she now sang regularly. Of course, Shanks couldn't understand a single word of any of the songs she sang, he'd never heard any sort of song like the ones she sang, though he did his best to memorize the odd words so he could share them with his captain. He'd tried when his soulmate had sung the first new song to him, but he'd been unable to recreate the song, which meant Roger couldn't help him. It had taken a few months for Shanks to memorize enough to share with Roger, enough that he didn't have less than a few words because Roger needed full sentences so Captain Roger could make sense of them. And thankfully, the Captain was eager to assist.

"Sing them for me, let me hear them."

"Okay, so… it goes like this," Shanks told the man. "Okay, uhh" Shanks went for the one he'd heard the most. The words felt wrong on his tongue, but Shanks did his best to copy what his soul mate had sung. "Dance- likue a hip-po-gufu" He tried loosely when he jerked. In a tone that was entirely amused, his soul-mate sang out correcting him.

_"Dance like a hippogriff,"_ she sang at him.

His stomach fluttered as Shanks felt his skin warm up in embarrassment and pleasure. He quickly repeated the line for Roger correcting what he'd accidentally said before moving onto the next line. His soul-mate corrected him again, the two working through the song slowly.

Listening carefully, Roger closed his eyes and hummed along. "Again." He said when Shanks finished, so Shanks picked right up at the beginning and restarted the song. Then after three repetitions Roger opened his mouth and began to sing in their language.

"Move your body like a hairy troll. Learning to rock and roll," Shanks gaped as Roger laughed and continued to sing a translation. How- HOW?! "Not an innocent girl your lass, it's a fun song," the pirate king grinned when they finished the song together, "what others does she have?"

"How?" Shanks choked out.

"I have the voice of all things brat," Roger flicked his head causing Shanks to yelp, "you memorize those songs of hers, and I'll translate them for you."

"Can you teach me the language?" Shanks asked, leaning forward, "then I can translate our songs for her, and she can learn ours!"

Roger made a so-so motion with his hand: "Sorry lad, you'll have to figure that out yourself. I can only tell you what the words mean in our language. I don't actually speak it."

"Okay," Shanks nodded determinedly. He could do that… but he needed more songs from her. Perhaps Shanks could coax her to sing if he sang new songs? She'd already tried to copy Binks Sake, so she was listening to him.

* * *

Voldemort was still alive, he'd been in the castle the entire year disguised as Quirrel. Holly lay in the hospital bed, staring at the burns across her hands from the magical damage she'd suffered during the fight. Hermione and Ron had been forced to leave her and Dumbledore had left only moments before after telling her what happened. And all Holly could think was that Voldemort was alive.

In the back of her head, her soul-mate sang, his happy-go-lucky songs meant for dancing, for fun. And Holly found herself completely unable to respond to him. As she wondered if she'd made a mistake by giving him hope by singing. Because Voldemort was alive and hunting her, and now she'd angered him. Chances were, Holly might very well end up dead at Voldemort's hands. And then… what would happen to him?

_"Yo hohohoho."_


	3. Haven't Met You Yet

**IN-OUT-IN-OUT-IN-OUT**

_Dear Holly: I was looking into the language your soulmate sings in, are you entirely certain you wrote it down correctly?…_

In-out-in-out-in-out-in-out-

_Holly: Hey so, I just remembered your birthday is on the first. Are you open to a party this year? At my house, of course. Fred and George want to set off some magical fireworks, you haven't seen them, right? It'll be awesome and…_

In-out-in-out-

_Dear Holly: You haven't responded, I'm growing a bit worried. Are my letters not coming through? Would a phone work better? I'll give you my phone number just in case you can't owl me an answer. It's…_

_PS: Also, regarding the language of your soulmate. I am beginning to suspect that he's from another world as I cannot find any reference to the words we wrote down on the train. Don't worry though! I have some theories about how to find and reach them if that is the case…_

In, out, in, out

_Holly: Why haven't you answered my letters!? Are you alright? Do we need to stage a rescue? Because the twins are beginning to scare me with their stories and all I can picture is you bleeding out in a gutter somewhere. Answer, please! Otherwise, we're going to come and get you! I swear we will-_

Holly whimpered pressing the letters to her stomach, the paper crumpled up as her nails clawed at the words desperate to believe they were accurate. That Hermione and Ron still cared about her, that they had missed her, that they were still her friends even if she hadn't been able to write them a single letter that summer.

"I-I'm not… surprised… No-ot everything… lasts." Holly sobbed out the words to a song, so softly she scarcely heard her own voices and knew chances were her soulmate wouldn't be able to hear her either. Which Holly reasoned was sort of the point. Her entire goal that summer had been to avoid angering her aunt and uncle, and singing and magic were the number one and two reasons to end up right in their furious path.

Hermione and Ron had convinced her right from the moment they'd been allowed in the hospital wing that she was not allowed to stop singing. Her friends who had known her for no more than a year by then realized her personality enough to know the first thing Holly would do upon discovering Voldemort would be to stop singing. Passionately they'd sat at her bedside; Hermione had stated with full logic that the chances of Voldemort finding her foreign speaking soulmate were next to nill, especially considering Voldemort didn't even have a body. While a firmly speaking Ron told her that it was unfair to her soulmate to abandon him without his input at all.

Holly had been convinced by their argument. She'd agreed to sing during the school year, and the school year only. The moment Holly was within the Dursley's family vehicle heading to Privet Drive, she refused to open her mouth, this was emphasized by her aunt's furious threats.

Petunia Dursley was Lily's sister, and unlike Hagrid's assumptions, Petunia knew very well that Holly could not use magic during the summer break. Magic was less Petunia's concern, her niece was untrained and couldn't use magic until she was removed from the Dursley home, lest she be expelled. Rather, her main concern was the soulmate, the being that was bound to her niece, the genuine threat. There was too much unknown to that creature, they could have any level of power, and Petunia refused to allow it anywhere near her family.

So in the car heading to Privet Drive Petunia had made her rules clear. No magic, and no singing under any circumstances. Should Holly be caught doing either, then Petunia would silence her permanently. Holly had no idea what that meant, or how it would be accomplished but she was terrified enough not to push it. It was only when her voice was threatened by an outside source that Holly realized how much she treasured her ability to sing. It was only when Holly thought she might not be able to sing again, that she realized she couldn't stop.

Holly remained entirely silent and perfectly isolated for an entire month. A whole month as her soulmate's singing grew steadily more desperate, and as he became more determined. As he sang the catchiest tunes, the most familiar ones, the ones that just demanded she sing. He even copied one of her own, stumbling over the words of 'do the hippogriff' and proving he had been paying extreme attention to her.

Then Dobby showed up in Holly's room, the slave of an elf that stole her letters and connection to the outside world. The magical creature that wanted to save her by destroying her entire life. Holly watched helplessly as he dropped a cake on Vernon's guests in front of her aunt's face. Immediately following her aunt had grabbed hold of her, had bodily dragged Holly up the stairs and hurled her in her room. The room that already had a cat flap for food, the room that was locked down with bars outside the window to keep her in. The room she had only escaped because Dobby had unlocked the door and yet he'd never questioned why it had been so firmly locked.

Holly was trapped, forced to sit and wait for her punishment as her aunt and uncle tried to make excuses and to fix the chaos Dobby had unrolled with an attack by cake. Pressed in the corner in the room with the bed between her and the door, trying to hide as she jumped at every sound on the stairs. Her imagination ran wild about what would happen to her, about what her aunt would do. She should not have watched that documentary about medieval torture the previous year, she was picturing boiling water forced down her throat to kill her vocal cords and-

Holly whimpered, holding her letters tighter as she softly sang what was possibly the last song she'd ever sing.

"Talk… myself in, talk myself out." She brushed a hand over her eyes, but it did nothing to stop the globs of tears pouring down her face. In the back of her head, Holly heard her soulmate's voice. He'd heard her, somehow he'd heard her voice raised no louder than a mouses footsteps. She couldn't understand a word, but the tone of voice he used was hopeful and concerned, offering soft comfort. Holly keened breaking down completely.

"Help, Ron, Hermione, someone- I don't want- please-" footsteps sounded on the stairs, and Holly squeezed deeper into the corner still as her soulmate sang on.

A bang sounded outside, and lights shone through her curtains enveloping the entire room in a bright glow. Holly gasped, looking up the papers crumpling all the more, and a muffled voice sounded right outside her window.

"Is this the right one?"

"I think so, move closer! Let me knock!"

"Should'a brought a rock or something, this is something out of a movie."

"Right you are, George."

Holly's eyes flew wide as she launched herself from the corner to throw open the curtains just as Ron's knuckles rapped on the window. He hung halfway out a flying blue car, half his body still in the vehicle held secure by one of the twins. Ron's jerked back in surprise as he saw her, then he relaxed in relief. "Your not dead!"

"Cut the lights." Fred urged George, and the lights shut off dousing the street in darkness once more.

"I will be soon!" she rushed to say, "get me out of here!" her aunt and uncle were still downstairs, they could come up at any point at all. "Ron-" she sobbed out, growing increasingly desperate and panicked.

"Got it! Step back!" She watched as he leaned back into the car to grab a duffel which he wrenched open. Holly watched as he yanked all manner of items from it, from pepper-spray, to a bear trap, a shovel, a first aid kit, and a… rubber chicken? Before he yanked out a hook and chain. Ron then attached the hook to the window, and the twins turned the car to yank the bars off by force.

Holly's stepped back as she realized how loud that would be, she'd only have seconds- she sprinted away from the window and snatched up Hedwig's cage and her Christmas present from Lavender. The girl said every female needed a proper purse and had gotten every girl in their dorm a bottomless bag. Holly's was a striking silver that Lavender thought matched her eyes. Holly had smartly put ever valuable in the purse before arriving in London, leaving her first-year books as bait items for her aunt and uncle to lock away. She'd have to replace her school clothes, and borrow copies of her summer homework from Ron, but her wand, cloak, album, and Hedwig were all accessible to her. Which were the more important items to her.

Holly slung the purse around her shoulder before she snatched up Hedwig's cage in a shaking grip. She'd have to apologize to her familiar later because she knew this would be an incredibly unpleasant ride.

_BANG._

The window and a considerable portion of the wall came free, Holly's window shattered, and she immediately regretted her lack of shoes. It didn't stop her as pounding footsteps came up the stairs in response to the explosive noise. As she raced right over the glass toward Ron's and Fred's reaching arms. Fred grabbed Hedwig's cage wrenching her owl into the front seat to make room as she launched over the gap between the house and car. Ron's arms encircled her own, and hands grabbed her bloodied feet-

Holly screamed, grabbing Ron as tightly as she could. She felt Fred throw his weight onto Ron's catching her upper body as she was yanked between her friends and the monster behind her.

"Let her go fat-ass!" George hollered throwing open his own door. Holly turned to look, saw the furious blood red face of her uncle as George's foot connected with the man's nose. A damning snap sounded as her uncle howled and the hands bruising up her ankles vanished.

Fred and Ron yanked her into the car, and Holly landed in a panicked tearful heap in Ron's arms. Frantically George twisted the wheel and sent them up and away as fast as he possibly could. He stopped them the moment they were out of sight and invisible and collectively they just breathed.

The only sound in the car was Hedwig's distressed noises, the boy's gasping breath, and Holly's desperately relieved sobs. For ten minutes they sat there in the clouds before Fred removed the hand covering his eyes as he took a closer look at the girl they'd just saved. His team-mate, his adoptive little sister, Ron's best friend. Fred stared at the quickly forming hand-print shaped bruises on her legs, eyed the bloodied cuts from the glass and the way her back heaved as she clung to his youngest brother. Then he slid his eyes to George, who had his forehead on the wheel, but his eyes wide open in shock. Neither of them had expected to actually be rescuing Holly that night, they'd just been trying to scare Ron and didn't want him to go to their mother about what they were doing; so they'd agreed to sneak out and check on the girl. George glanced his way sensing his eyes, and they shared a collective thought.

Holly Potter was under no circumstances returning to that place.

"Let's go home." Fred finally said as he settled Hedwig more securely in his lap. In the back, Ron nodded as Holly lifted her head and wiped off the mess from her face. She mumbled an apology to Ron for messing up his shirt which he waved off instantly.

"It's just a shirt Holly, it can be washed."

Holly nodded, rubbing her nose before she started to climb free of his arms. But Ron didn't let her go, he personally wasn't ready to release her. All summer he'd been picturing the worst, and to find out his guesses were right- he wasn't prepared to let Holly out of his sight for a moment.

"What are we going to tell mum?" George whispered as he started to drive forward.

"Err…?" Fred and Ron both answered.

"Wait… what?" Holly asked, settling in Ron's arms again with her head on his lap.

"We… might not have told her we were coming," Fred admitted, "she'll have to accept it though, she's the only one that knows how to heal since Bill's not in the house anymore, and we need to fix up your feet."

"Sorry."

"For what?" Fred gave her an incredulous look.

Holly ducked her head, "Bleeding on the car?"

They all scowled at her, and Ron tapped her forehead in chastisement, causing her to blush. "I'm not even going to start on that one," Fred spoke up, rolling his eyes; instead he reached up and turned on the radio allowing the Muggle station to come in loud and clear. None of the Weasley's knew the song that popped up, but Holly immediately smiled relaxing to it and opened her mouth to sing clearly for the first time since the fall.

"Here comes the sun~."

* * *

Molly Weasley knew with a vague sense of the word that abuse directed toward children existed, but she'd personally never encountered it before. Her parents had been an incredible couple raising her, and her siblings with love, care, and the sort of mistakes every parent tended to make at one point. Her husband, Arthur had been raised in much the same way.

Truthfully, the closest Molly had come to abuse had been the distant knowledge of what Sirius Black had suffered, but she hadn't known the details. And personally, Molly couldn't honestly believe something like that had been possible. How could a mother, father, or family member do that to a child?

The fact was, however, that Molly couldn't deny it any longer.

She'd first reacted with distress to discover three of her children missing from their beds in the morning. Distress which grew with a lack of note - Bill had always left a note when he'd snuck out to stop her from worry, why were the twins like this - and the Ford Angela gone. Only to immediately be rushed with relieved anger when they returned. So caught up in her own thoughts she missed the addition they'd brought with them until she'd heard a whimper.

Fred, or was it George? Was carrying a minuscule girl on his back. About the size of Ginny with a mess of - familiar, so familiar - curled black hair and bright green eyes. Molly didn't need to see the scar to know exactly who this child was. And she wondered quickly, why was she scared? Why was she here? Why was Fred carrying her? Why-why-why-

And then her boys all started to talk at once.

She'd long grown used to them speaking at once and could by then easily pick about the story from multiple sources, not that she let them know that. She tried to tell them she couldn't understand when they were speaking at once, mostly because the volume became entirely too loud when they were all trying to talk over each other to be heard. This time Molly kept her mouth shut as a horrifying story came through.

"That walrus of a man had bars on her window-"

"He grabbed her and tried to pull her out of the car, from a floor up!-"

"-Terrified out of her mind, mom we can't let her go back-"

"-Bleeding and was worried about it, instead of the pain-"

"-Needs healing, she's still hurt so bad mom and-"

"Stop!" she ordered firmly but quietly as to not startle the poor girl. Her boys silenced themselves instantly as Molly stepped forward, focusing on one problem at a time. The most crucial one currently seemed to be the injuries. "George go collect my first-aid kit, Fred bring her to the couch, let us have a look at her feet." The boys scattered, Ron right at the girl's side.

Molly recalled the letter she'd gotten the night before Christmas from a panicked Ron about his best friend not getting any gifts, ever. She'd been suspicious then but had dismissed it to focus on ensuring the girl got a jumper just the rest of her children and their friends. And now that she was thinking about, this girl and also been abandoned outside the station the year previous, clueless of where she had to go to get on the train- oh no, oh dear, this was not good.

"It's wonderful to meet you Holly," Molly spoke as soothingly as she could as George sprinted into the room holding her kit of potions. "Ron's spoken of you quite a bit." And he wasn't the only one either, the twins had gushed endlessly about her flying, and even Percival had spoken of her on occasion. "All good things I promise."

Holly blushed and shot Ron a distressed look that had Molly giggling in her head. "Now, may I see those feet of yours?"

"Yes, ma'am." Holly demurred allowing Molly to take one of her shoeless feet in hand to peer at the painfully deep cuts dug into them. As she did, she carefully looked at the blackened bruises on the girl's feet, which matched the not to hidden one around her upper arm. Molly kept her expression pleasant as she chatted with her children and Holly to relax them all. But internally she was already plotting.

If it was abuse, if it was as bad as her children expressed, then Molly would need to do something. She'd need to ensure Holly never returned to that building and to those people. Thankfully she'd likely have until the next summer to figure it out, to build a proper plan, and to speak to the right people.

Sarah would no doubt be willing to assist, and Amelia had far more experience the Molly did… she'd have to talk to Arthur as soon as he got home. They could probably afford one more child, and Molly had always wanted another girl.

"There," she leaned back, "how does that feel?" she asked.

"much better ma'am."

"Oh, dear, please call me Molly." Even though she'd been calling Molly 'mother' sooner than later if she had anything to do with it. "Now, you rest here, all four of you. I have a floo-call to make, then we can see about breakfast."

They nodded, her boys relaxing as they realized they weren't going to get in trouble for rescuing their friend. They wouldn't. But she'd have to emphasize the need for a note next time. She'll owl Bill to tell them, it would be better coming from him than her considering their ages.

Honestly. All eight of her kids were going to make her go gray.

* * *

After the disaster that was the start of the summer, Holly's life relaxed into something a bit calmer for the rest of it. Molly and Arthur had accepted her presence with ease and not a word of complaint. She was put in Ginny's room and given a pair of Ron's older shoes to replace the ones she'd been forced to leave behind. The rest of her clothing had been hemmed from the boys, mostly Percy's who had been shorter like she had, instead of Ron, who was quite tall for his age. Holly had been a mess when Molly handed the clothes to her but hadn't been able to say no, considering Percy's hand-me-downs fit far better than Dudley's ever had.

Halfway through the month, Hermione had visited, and Ron had surprised her with a slightly late birthday party. Most of her gifts had been clothing, but Holly had loved the fact that she'd gotten a birthday at all, which was a first as she'd told Ron. Her comment was one more Molly added to her growing list of concerns about Holly's family life, a list Holly had no knowledge of for the time being.

That summer had been the best she'd ever had after being accepted by the Weasley's. She'd gotten her first birthday, been accepted by a real loving family. She'd been given minimal chores, by her own insistence that she wanted to do something, got to play and visit Lee's house with the twins. She learned song after song with the Weasley's and even attended one of the monthly Muggle sing-alongs with Percy. On top of all that the last two weeks of summer had Hermione staying with them as well, and she got to debate with her friends all about the language her soulmate sang in, which Hermione theorized was from another world accessible through a rare type of magic.

Holly was determined to find it as they headed off to Hogwarts together, or tried to. They and a dozen other families were stopped at the gate to the platform when it randomly closed twenty minutes early and created an incident. Quite a few families were prevented from entering the platform, and they all missed the train. It was a massive incident with the ministry. The kids all needed to floo'd directly to the school several hours before the other students arrived. Personally, Holly had thought it odd, but hadn't thought it had been explicitly directed toward her until she'd been attacked by a murderous quaffle a month later.

The bloody thing shattered her arm, and then their newest defense professor vanished all the bones in the same arm. Somehow the twins were able to their parents about it happening. As a result Holly got to witness Molly and Arthur's protective fury in the flesh. She hadn't been able to understand someone being that worried about her, especially not to the point of Lockheart nearly being suspended for what he'd done. Ron hadn't been able to explain either, he'd told her it was something she'd just have to get used to. She suspected her comment about how uncomfortable Lockheart made her with his stares hadn't really helped Molly and Arthur's anger about the whole situation.

Then there was the whole voice in her head incident. No, not her soulmates. But rather a hissing voice intent on murder and killing. It wasn't at all strange to hear a voice in your head, but one that didn't sing? One that your soulmate seemed not to notice? That was a bit odder. Holly, however, had had enough with being the freak, so she hadn't said a word to anyone about what she was hearing.

Instead of focusing on the Chamber, the attempts on her life, and the oddities of Ron's parents, Holly focused on her soulmates odd language. The first hint of which, she got in History of Magic after the winter break.

Holly's head hit her desk as she soundlessly groaned. Binns history lesson was dragging on endlessly, and her mind was slowly, painfully, eating away at itself from the lack of stimulation until a single sentence was uttered. Holly perked up head nearly smashing into a drooping Ron's who had been about to fall asleep on her shoulder.

"-The high elves left our world for another." Explained Binns in a way that wasn't world-changing to members of his class. Hermione nearly caused a scene as she rushed to take notes about the suddenly crucial history lesson. The girls both hung on his every word. "It's not certain how or why they left, but we know from our stories and signs in magically powerful areas that this indeed happened." Binns then moved off the elf topic and back toward the accursed Goblin Wars.

"That's it?!" Holly demanded causing the class to flinch and wake back up. "Surely there's more information than that? How did they go there? How do we know? What were the signs? Can we follow? Are there multiple worlds?!" Holly shot the questions one after another in quick succession and went utterly ignored by their professor. "Sir!" she demanded. The ghost reached up writing on the board, his voice droning on and a frustrated scream built inside her; when a throat cleared from behind.

Holly shot around her to see Parvati looking her way, calmly the girl said: "if you want to know more about the high elves I'd suggest Professor Flitwick, he has three masteries, and one was done on elvish history."

"Really?" Holly asked brightly. Most of the class turned to watch them, dismissing their professor for the far more interesting conversation, and Holly Potter losing her composure.

"How do you know that?" Ron asked, adding onto to Holly's question.

"My sister, Padma, she is obsessed with elves." Parvati shrugged, "she went on and on about meeting him when we were coming to Hogwarts. Doesn't matter really, the point is, he can answer some of your questions about the high elves."

"Do you know anything? What can you tell me?"

"A bit I guess, mostly what Padma told me. Let's see." Parvati tapped her chin thoughtfully, then nodded, "so apparently High elves needed a lot of magic to survive, like their bodies are made of magic and they need it for their immortality. So waaaay back when, when Merlin lived or whatever, magic started to lessen in our world. It's enough for humans and most creatures, but for the high-elves it wasn't enough so they had to leave for a world with more magic in it or they'd all start dying."

"And then?" asked Lavender as they started to gather around to hear Parvati speak.

"Then, err… so they created this portal thing; apparently some witch found it a few hundred years ago, anyway it's hidden deep in this really magically potent forest and its direct location is kept strictly secret. The Unspeakables are the only ones that know now where it is; but they protect it, and they're physically unable to say where the location is, you know, to keep it safe." Nods all around, "anyway people still study it now. There's this obscure group that swears we'll need it one day to escape the Muggles, which is nonsense, but you know the type." More nods.

"So can it travel to multiple worlds?" Hermione asked, "and do these High elves have a different language than us?" Holly shot Hermione a look and quickly understood, was her soulmate an elf?

"No clue that you have to ask Flitwick." Parvati rolled her eyes, "I don't have all the information."

Holly resolved herself to do exactly that, in fact, the moment school ended for the day she grabbed Hermione and Ron and dragged them toward their Charms class. Holly was on a mission, Hermione was burning with questions, and Ron was… dancing. Heading together with Ron who was a step behind, the girls caught him in the corner of their eye suddenly stopping to do a little jig as he started to sing none too quietly: "A magic feeling, is growing so strong~."

Hermione and Holly slowed to glance at him as he grinned at them and quickly explained: "she's singing again, loudly too. I figured, well, Holly's soulmate always seems to like it when she sings with her, I figured I'd try the same. Especially since she's so quiet during the holidays." Ron had fretted the entire break about the girl who only ever whispered sang during the summer and winter breaks, down to the day in fact.

"I don't know that one, otherwise I'd join you," Hermione said whose soulmate was the opposite, he never sang during the year, only the breaks. Though there had been an exception to that. Muggles, as she and Holly knew, had sing-alongs to help tell their other halves where in the world they were. The magical community did this differently; their traditions involved school songs which Hermione thought was foolish. Each magical school had a different tune, and going off only that, was assuming a witch or wizards soulmate had to be magical when that wasn't guaranteed as Holly clearly proved. Though technically Hermione's was magical; the one song her soulmate sang during the year and had for several years by then, was the anthem for Durmstrang. She knew by extension that he went to Durmstrang and had magic - which annoyed her endlessly with the questions as to how she'd find him across such a large potential area.

Ron's other half meanwhile they'd discovered the year previous went to Hogwarts; which proved nothing and the success of a school song working. Though they did know she had to be a second year with them due to when she'd started to sing the song, which was… mildly helpful.

Ron twisted on the spot and took Holly's hand pulling her into the dance: "She's been singing it all week, maybe it's something someone else taught her? Doubt it's from her home." He scowled thinking about it. He might have been jumping to conclusions, but it couldn't be a coincidence that both his soulmate and Holly were silenced when at their homes. Ron could not stop thinking about what he'd learned about Holly's home-life and picturing that for his soulmate as well. "No way her parents taught it to her, she's just like you Holly, never singing loudly when at home. Makes me think…" Ron trailed off when he noticed Holly's expression and internally swore, he'd pushed her too far, he knew better than to bring it up-

"It's likely she's not singing loudly when she's home because she isn't allowed to." Holly finished feeling her mood sour, she didn't want to accept or even think it, but after seeing Ron's parents and family, how they treated each other made her begin to realize what she had wasn't anywhere close to normal. But she couldn't accept it, because accepting it meant- meant that her aunt, her only living relatives really did despise her.

"Sorry Holly," Ron whispered. He'd been speaking to Charlie and Bill all year about abuse, the signs of it, and how to talk to people who'd suffered it. He wanted nothing more than to help Holly through what her scummy relatives had done. But he was floundering, he had no idea how to help when she couldn't escape the situation, and their people didn't have anything like the Muggles 'terra-pists.' "I just don't want her to suffer like that, I don't want to think about her-" or Holly, "-being hurt like that and yet being unable to help." Just like Holly's own soulmate couldn't.

"Sometimes you can't do anything," Holly stated walking faster so they couldn't see her expression, "sometimes people are just like that." In her head, her soulmate's voice pitched up in a happy, joyful song, as if telling her to cheer up. Her shoulders sagged a bit, she wished she could, wished she could be as relaxed and comfortable a he was. Holly wished she could do whatever she wanted, wished she could escape, to be free, to just- to just-

She shook her head as they arrived at Flitwick's classroom, and Holly knocked unwilling to look back at Ron and Hermione, who had fallen silent with pensive unhappy energy. She rapped on the door before she could hesitate or second guess and stepped inside unmindful of the expression on their faces.

"Come in-" Flitwick went still at his desk as he saw them, saw the red eyes on Hermione who could do nothing to help either of her friends. Saw Ron's wringing hands and biting lip. Saw Holly's broken helpless expression that she wiped clean in an instant, so quickly that he was almost sure he'd imagined it. Almost. "Are you three alright?" he stood quickly and hopped right over his desk to approach them.

"Yes sir, nothing is wrong," Holly said on instinct-

_'Please Professor Dumbledore- I… maybe I could just stay at Hogwarts? I wouldn't be much trouble-… why? It's just… it's… it's nothing, I mean- it's something I just-… no sir. I understand sir.'_

"I just had a question, about high elves?"

Filius eyed them, noted their recovering expressions, and decided for the time being to leave it. He had no proof, just suspected. He'd have to watch them, watch for any sign something wasn't right. It was possible they were upset over the Chamber or the gossip following Miss Potter, many of his Claw's were bothered intensely by the former, and he'd had wanted to schedule a counselor to come to visit them, but his request had been denied. He knew mental health wasn't a popular subject in the magical community, but he'd expected better from the headmaster and the board. Perhaps he could convince the other head of houses to assist in his request, he could also speak to Minerva about the state of mind of these three particular lions.

"Certainly." He backed off to sit down, to teach bright young minds about one of his favorite topics, to make himself smaller, more approachable by nervous young children: "What is it you'd like to ask?"

"The portal!" Holly blurted, "was there multiple worlds they could have traveled to? Or is there only one? And do the high-elves have a language? Do we know it? Can it be translated? Learned?"

Filius linked his fingers together withholding his surprise; he'd expected the questions to come from Miss Granger who he been convinced had been miss-sorted until the Troll incident. He hadn't expected at all such questions from Miss Potter, though he supposed it wasn't a surprise. Her marks were perfect, in a purposely trying to fail sort of way. She was precisely a point behind Ronald Weasley for every exam, test, or piece of homework. The sheer amount of dedication and intelligence it took to remain precisely one point behind Mister Weasley so consistently made him thrilled to see Holly Potter take such an interest in a topic he loved. Especially since as of yet he'd not convinced anyone of her hidden intelligence.

So Filius waxed poetry to the kids. He spoke of the theories involved with the portal that hadn't been seen by anyone outside an unspeakable. He explained how the elves could not possibly have gotten lucky with a magically powerful world with one single try and how he'd written about other worlds that could be. Then he spoke of the language of the High Elves, which did exist and could be spoken by specialists which he, unfortunately, wasn't one.

"If you wish to learn the language itself, you will have to contact a specialist," He smiled fondly at how eager they were. "Shall I recommend one?" Filius would encourage her love of the topic, promote her intelligence, push the thought that she ought to share it.

"I'd like that, sir."

He beamed, this was a step forward he was thrilled for her to take: "certainly, his name is John, and he's…"

* * *

"So, what did he say?" Ron asked months later with a lack of topics to lead them. Hermione's absence was a toll on them both; her insight, words, and presence completed their group, and without her, Ron and Holly were floundering.

"That the language I'm hearing isn't the language the elves used, but he wants to help me learn to speak it. Apparently, he has a thing for languages and loves learning new ones." Holly said, striding through the hall with Ron, "Do you think… we can trust him?" she almost asked Tom Riddle's diary while waiting for a response, Tom was highly intelligent, and she had thought he could help, but the diary had been stolen right after she'd decided to do so. Which she'd soon realize was for the best.

"Hermione will probably be thrilled, remember how she said he was some famous Muggle writer or something?"

"She did say that," Holly recalled, "I wonder if the books are any good." Personally, she hadn't gotten around to reading much fiction, when they had Hermione back, she might go about fixing that. It would be a great topic for them to talk about during the summer.

"I'd be willing to try them. They'd have to be better than Lockheart's books."

"And just as fake." Holly laughed, only to be cut off as they caught tense voices around a nearby corner. She and Ron exchanged a look, fell silent, and crept forward to eavesdrop, and from that, they discovered the truth. A student had been dragged into the Chamber of Secrets, and not just any student either; it was Ron's little sister.

"Ginny." Ron breathed out in horror as he staggered face pale and hands shaking. He swayed as he pressed a hand to the nearby wall, dizziness rushing through him. Ron only avoided falling and giving up their location thanks to Holly's quick grab that steadied him. Desperate Ron looked at her, one single look was all it took for Holly. She had the mind of a Ravenclaw, the cunning of a Slytherin, and the loyalty of a Hufflepuff, but none of that made a difference in the face of her utter courage. Holly snatched hold of Ron's arm and dragged him away, her mind working a million miles an hour as she put it together from the hints building around them- and of course; that was why Hermione had been in the library with a mirror that day. No wonder she'd been found with a book on magical creatures.

"Basilisk," Holly hissed out. The voice in her head, it was not in her head, it wasn't part of her soul, it was a voice she was actively hearing in the walls.

"What?- Holly- where?-" But how was it getting around? And how had no one died yet- no that was wrong-

Her soulmates voice lit up in a song, a new one. It was energetic, full of drive and power, it was a song of battle, a song built for what she had to do. Holly's lips twisted up, feeling that soft spot for him grow, he always knew.

"Myrtle! I am a moron! No, wait-" she scowled, "everyone else is, a twelve-year-old should not have been the first person to put this crap together. Come on." Holly dragged Ron down the hall as her mind rushed ahead. Did she have the time to get the book? No, there was no telling how long Ginny had left. They'd just have to handle it themselves.

_'She could get a professor-'_

She couldn't rely on adults, they were useless and wouldn't believe her just like they hadn't the year before about anything-

_'Flitwick helped her get in contact with the language guy, he could be trusted?'_

"Where are we going?" Ron asked racing after her as she led him to the girl's bathroom, he'd stopped being dragged several floors ago and trusted her to lead him right. "The bathroom?"

"Mrytle's bathroom, she's the girl that died last time." Holly stopped at the doorway and looked toward Ron, "the creature is a basilisk, and the entrance is in the bathroom… and we're going to save your sister."

_'She'd save Ginny with Ron, they'd handle the problem themselves.'_

"Remember," she said, staring at the entrance and the hole leading the Chamber, "any sign of movement, close your eyes straight away."

Ron straightened his spine, stared into the depths, and nodded.

They were saving his sister.

* * *

A blur of color- a flash of green- the harsh, cruel words of Tom Riddle as he foolishly stole Ron's wand instead of her own. Nearby Ron was covering Ginny with his own body, desperate to protect her even if she might no longer be alive- while Holly stood across from Tom Riddle before the statue of Salazar Slytherin, stood challenging him with her stare as he taunted her, giving away his every secret in a mad monologue that she hadn't thought villains actually did. She was calm while he did so, composed while she tried to think of a plan, quiet as he revealed who he really was, clam until he-

"You sing to him and open yourself to weakness," Tom told her cruelly.

-Until he brought her soulmate into the conversation. The biggest button she possessed, a surefire way to anger her. Holly's tempers flared like her mothers so often had.

"He is the best part of me," Holly said without hesitation, "and I don't even know him yet." But she would; he kept her sane when she'd been so painfully stifled and hurt. He was the first person to love her and was amazingly no longer the only one to do so. He was the one that kept pushing her to sing, to embrace him, to find joy, and he did it without even making a single word of sense to her.

Holly had only the knowledge of two years of useless defense education. She only knew how to duel thanks to what Snape had taught them in one disastrous dueling lesson. But it didn't matter, because she had a plan; Holly just had to bluff. It was a rather simple plan that grew to fruition the moment Tom stole Ron's wand, the moment they both realized Tom was no ally against the beast.

She just needed him to cast a single spell. If Tom didn't realize the wand would backfire then-

"So… so bring it." Holly taunted.

They cast at the same time, a red and green spell lighting up their wands and-

_Tom screamed_

-Ron's wand hit the ground, and Ginny gasped to life.

* * *

"So… a hippogriff is… what exactly?" Shanks asked Roger as they stood quietly together at the helm. Roger was leaning, arms across the helm as he watched Rouge dancing happily at the bow of the ship with some of the crew. She'd thoroughly enjoyed the song of the island they'd discovered at their most recent spot, it had been an exciting battle tune that had the whole crew singing and dancing around all afternoon, all of them giving out a sign to their soulmates of where they were and how far they'd traveled. Shanks had joined into the party naturally but had been disappointed once more to learn the language was common, and he hadn't found the home of his soulmate.

"Lad." Roger gave a tired chuckle, "I honestly couldn't tell you, I can only tell what the word means, not what it actually is. To find what manner of 'thing' that is you'll have to go hunting yourself."

Shanks groaned; figuring out how to translate their words into hers was proving increasingly difficult. His troubles started in the summer months when there had been a full month where his soulmate had returned to not singing again, he didn't admit to anyone how much it had panicked him at first, nor had he told anyone it had happened in the first place. Thankfully after that month he'd caught her whispering through a song; he wondering if she'd done so before and he'd just missed it due to how quiet it had been. He couldn't know, and it didn't matter in the end as she began to sing again after that. All that did matter was whatever it was that had stopped her from singing in the first place, Shanks was desperately relieved she hadn't let it mute her for longer, and was growing increasingly aggressive toward what was doing it.

"Maybe… Hippo, like those water animals and Griff?" He made a face mentally picturing some cursed animal with the body of a hippo and a bird of some kind. Shanks was quick to shake the thought from his head, "what about an elf?"

Roger hummed a distracted noise: "pretty sure those are those tiny people on Dressrosa… excuse me a moment lad, I have… something to attend to."

"Huh? Alright, thanks for the help, Captain! Now… Dressrosa… do we have a book on that?" Shanks turned away mumbling to himself as he strode toward the small library that had in the Oro Jackson.

Roger watched him leave, waited until the moment Shanks was completely out of sight before he sagged completely on the helm. His eyes squeezed closed a moment as he tried to will away the pain. It wasn't doing any good. Now that Crocus had left the ship and he was out of the drugs he needed to temporarily shove away the burn, he was beginning to feel it more and more often. Hissing slightly under his breath Roger dug his fingers into the wood of the helm and nearly lit up his hand with haki, which would have destroyed it, not ideal to do for the second time that week. Wrenching an eye open - when had he closed them? - Roger glanced toward Rouge as she belted out the words to the song he heard echoed in his head.

Roger tried to straighten, to brush it off as he always had, but- no his vision was going fuzzy, he'd been too active that da- he needed to-

He didn't have enough time to-

Roger opened his mouth and sung softly, "You got something I need. In this world full of people, there's one killing me." He watched Rouge slow to a stop, her cheeks tinting as bright as her hair as she remembered the moment he did. He would forever remember meeting her, belting out the words to the song he'd sung to her a thousand times through their childhood. The very same song his mother sang to her soulmate till the day she died an entire ocean away from him. The same one he knew Roger would sing to Rouge when he met his own end, the same one Roger had immediately started up when he first caught sight of her on the marina staring longingly out to sea. He hadn't even needed to see her singing to know, one look at her and that was all it had taken, she was his for as long as he lived.

"And if we only die once. I wanna die with you." He straightened a bit as she scanned the ship and lifted her eyes toward him. She was so full of energy and love; Rouge loved sailing and the ocean, she loved seeing new places and learning new cultures. She was life and adventure, love and thrill. She made every moment of his experience through life worth it, she made the pain fall away. Made the dark thoughts in the back of his head fade, the ones about leaving her along and young, about what the crew would do after the sickness finally snatched him away as he knew it would.

Rouge's eyes locked with his own, and he watched her realize. She and Rayleigh could read him like no one else, they always knew- she turned immediately to speak to Rayleigh, and they both rushed toward him. Roger breathed easier as they did; Rayleigh would ensure the ship was well taken care of that night. He would cover for Roger, and with Rayleigh in charge, no one would discover how bad it really was. And Rouge, his lovely wife would be there as he took a moment, just a single moment to let the pain show, to allow his body to rest.

"If we only live once. I wanna live with you." Rouge sang to him, meaning every word as she reached his side. As much time as she could steal from the gods, as much happiness as she could claim and rip from their hands. She'd live with him without regret, for as long as she could.


	4. Fight Together

"Does this count as kidnapping?" Arthur said out the side of his mouth toward his wife. He and the family were leaving the station at a speed faster than a 'brisk' walk. All the while trying to act as innocent as possible. For Arthur, it wasn't honestly a problem, he was used to acting natural when anything but was occurring. Likewise, his Mollywobbles, to the world as nothing more than a homemaker, was smiling happily as if everything was right in the world; though the difference between himself and Molly was that to her it was, and to him, he was aware of what could happen. Outside himself and his wife, Ron and Ginny had only been let into the plan hours ago, due to that, they looked like Yule had come early. Percy, unfortunately, was a nervous wreck but thankfully wasn't complaining publically. While the twins, for all of their pranks, had expressions that screamed that they were doing wrong - then again, Arthur might just be used to those expressions.

The family rushed together through the station, from the train itself toward the Ford Angela at their 'brisk walk.' All the while, they boxed in the smallest figure between them to hide her from the public eye. And wasn't that just one more sign? She was shorter than even Ginny, who was a year younger than her. Holly Lily Potter was a minuscule creature, wearing the now fitted clothing that Ginny had passed to her over the year - without even being asked! Her black hair had been smashed under one of Percy's hats disguising the color. While Ron had stolen her glasses and was bodily leading her, so she didn't walk face-first into anything. Her owl had been sent ahead by the twins. All this had been in the effort to ensure no one noticed that the Weasley family… was kidnapping the girl-who-lived.

Arthur peered at the pre-teen, catching a glimpse as Ginny bounced excitedly at her side and he saw her reddened eyes. Soundlessly she cried, with her hands pressed to her lips to muffle any sounds that might escape and give her away. Ron, his wonderful son, chatted on and pretended he didn't see it as he excitedly told her everything they'd do that summer. Ginny, still recovering from what had happened with that bloody diary, agreed energetically - more excited than he'd ever expected after what she'd been through. As he listened in, he heard Ginny gush about sharing a room for the first time in her life.

"Of course not, she's willing!" Molly proclaimed, re-catching his attention. Her eyes scanned the area like a dragon ready to breathe fire at the slightest perceived slight. Arthur had no doubts Charlie would confirm his comparison. Regardless, Arthur hummed a confirmation to Molly's comment because it was true. Holly was very willing to join their family, but she was also very willing to join any family to escape those Dursley's. Which wasn't as comforting a thought as he'd like.

Now, he and Molly had spent much of the year attempting to find a proper, legal, way of getting Holly away from those people but it had proved a challenge. They'd started most obviously, by visiting the pair themselves once they'd sent the children to Hogwarts. The meeting had, to be as kind as possible, gone badly. The bars the twins told them about had since been removed, but other signs within the house itself hadn't. The cat-flap Molly had overheard about had been present, the cupboard - Arthur couldn't even fathom the closet - carried signs if one was looking closely. And after Molly had threatened the woman that had been related to Lily - honestly, he couldn't see the resemblance at all - the dirty truth had come out.

After that visit, Molly and Arthur had debated what to do for their next step because they absolutely could not allow Holly to return there. If it hadn't been bad enough after the kids' daring escape, Molly and Arthur's visit had definitely made things worse for the child. On the other hand, the proper authorities to contact in the magical world wouldn't do anything about it. It was partly - entirely - due to the pureblood's in charge of the Wizengamot not wanting anyone looking into how they raised their heirs. So abuse in all forms was shoved under the rug, all because the magical world didn't possess a system to counter it. A friend of Arthur's, a woman who had been a victim of childhood abuse had blatantly told him there was nothing to be done outside of therapy as an adult, muggle therapy because mental health wasn't commonly spoken of either. Arthur was still in awe after speaking to a few muggle 'sky-terra-pists.' All this left Molly and Arthur at a standstill and an impending question, could they really do nothing?

The answer was blatantly a no, but the most straightforward method was to just take the girl who lived into their home… illegally. For any other child, it wouldn't be questioned in their world. Sirius had run away at fifteen and spent his every summer after at James Potter's home and no one ever asked about it. That hadn't just been a one-time occurrence either. Andromeda had spent a significant amount of time at Arthur's childhood home after she'd been burned from the family tree. And though Holly was younger, her relatives wouldn't miss her, and it would only be for the summer as far as a public knew. The problem was, Holly was the girl-who-lived, she was a public figure and if anyone found out the truth… Arthur didn't want to imagine what would happen to him, Molly, and the kids.

But then there was Holly. Ron's best friend, an innocent little girl, a very abused young lady, and someone Molly and Arthur needed to help.

Still, they were torn, indecision rushing through their hearts and minds. Until a floo call came in from McGonagall Minerva, and everything settled into place even as their worlds dangerously rocked. He and Molly had sat at Ginny's bedside, watching her breathe in and out. He kept a hand on her chest, feeling the steady up and down motion, just to remind himself that yes… his daughter was alive. Then he'd cast his eyes toward a steadily sleeping Ron who'd blurted the entire story to them, and to Holly curled in the smallest of balls. Even in sleep, she protected her head, but her expression… it was utterly innocent. Arthur had known then what they had to do, and Molly had agreed one-hundred percent.

The savior, the girl-who-lived, was eleven years old and had faced Tom Riddle - Voldemort - and a basilisk to save Ginny. She was a hero, and she was eleven years old, a baby. And Molly and Arthur would risk themselves to protect her from any more cruelty.

That night Arthur and Molly planned everything out, the next day they contacted Percy and the twins for aid. Each acting out their part to smuggle Holly out of the platform without raising suspicions from the parents picking up their own children. Right past the muggles at the station, and straight into the Ford Angela. Because they were kidnapping Holly Potter, and nothing was going to stop them.

"He's here," Molly said out of the side of her mouth as she tried to plaster on an innocent expression across her face. It was twitching and a terrible attempt, but at least she tried to act innocent as she spotted the monster of a being - worse perhaps than Voldemort in her opinion - Vernon Dursley. The man was taking all the time in the world to exit his vehicle, preparing to pick up his niece. As Arthur watched an expression of pure cruelty twisted the man's face, and Arthur knew he was imagining all the cruelties he wanted to subject their daughter to-

Molly's hand stopped him before he stormed toward the beast and socked him across the face. He felt his skin burn holding himself back by a breath as he watched the man saunter into the station.

"We don't have long Arthur, quickly before he notices she's missing and before she notices him."

He exhaled through his teeth and nodded a single time sharply. Arthur forced his eyes away from the man and tilted his head so the kids couldn't see the violent expression on his face. Then he marched toward the driver's side of the car and hopped in quickly. He didn't try to speak as Molly hopped in on the other side and glanced back cheerfully.

"All buckled in family?"

From behind five of their children responded with a positive and Molly frowned: "I said 'All buckled in family?'"

More confirmations, but again, only five. So Molly slid her eyes to Holly, and she politely waited. After ten seconds, Ron nudged her and whispered quickly in her ear. Holly turned bright red and rushed to stutter out: "Y-yes, I'm… err, ready!"

Arthur started the car feeling far better than he had a moment ago, and Molly sat forward, making herself comfortable as they started down the road toward home. Casually, as they drove down the road, Arthur cleared his throat, turned to his wife, and brought up the secret he'd been keeping for quite a while. "So, that thing I won for the summer," the trip to Egypt they hadn't told the children about, the one that involved the Weasley's but got complicated when it came to their newest illegal addition. Molly glanced his way and gave a curious noise. As of that moment, Arthur had actually been intending to stay behind with Holly as he sent the rest to visit Bill… until Arthur ran into a bit of luck. "I have a co-worker, and please don't be upset Molly-wobbles, but he was able to make a Muggle passport for Holly and for us. That way, we can all go on the trip together." He grinned her way, wondering if she would be furious with him, he wasn't sure how far they were going to push the crime-breaking after the first one committed that afternoon. He was counting on the high it would be giving Molly now that they had succeeded at stealing a child.

"Oh, Arthur!" Molly thankfully beamed at him, "that's wonderful, they'll love it!" they glanced in the review mirror together just in time to see Percy successfully get Holly to stop crying and laugh. "Goodness knows Bill wants to meet her after everything we've told him, and Holly deserves a chance to meet her eldest brother."

* * *

Holly rubbed her hands together nervously as the plane touched down. She'd spent the whole trip between Ron who had tried to melt into his seat because on her other side was Arthur who'd chatted with the flight attendant the entire time about the hows and whys of how an airplane flew. Holly was fairly certain the woman thought Arthur a bit touched in the head and had offered him the chance to see the cockpit when they landed.

Which meant they left the plane a little bit later than everyone else because Arthur had dragged Ginny along to meet the pilots with him while the rest of them had declined out of embarrassment, or fear like Holly. Not a fear of the plane, but constant fear that eventually this joy would be ripped away from her. When Ron had grabbed her at the station and had refused to release her despite her half-hearted protests that she had to go back to the Dursley's, she'd been confused but relieved. She'd been terrified the last month of Hogwarts, convinced she was heading to her death after everything that occurred that year. Twice she'd escaped Ron and Hermione's presence to prevent herself from having a panic attack in front of them, both times she'd holed up in the bathroom and had sung to her soulmate. He had, as if sensing her fear, sang back in secure, calm tones which helped her calm down enough to go back.

Then Ron had hissed his parents plan to her as they rushed through the station. She'd been boxed in by Weasley's and told she was staying with them and was not to be returning to the Dursley's ever again. Holly hadn't believed that to be a possibility especially after she'd asked Dumbledore to stay at Hogwarts at the end of her first year. He'd said he had to return to the Dursley's and her aunt to keep the protection her aunt gave her, and she'd believed it. Until Ron reminded her shrewdly, it hadn't done a thing against Tom Riddle, so there was no point in trying to keep it up.

So Holly was given Charlie's old bed which had been moved into Ginny's room. Ginny happily showed Holly which drawers and shelves were hers, and then unpacked and put up posters and made the room theirs instead of just Ginny's. Hedwig got comfortable with Errol, and Holly with the chaotic schedule that was the Weasley family.

Truthfully, however, she couldn't settle. She was constantly prepared for everything to go badly, that she'd anger Molly and Arthur enough that they'd kick her out. Every shattered plate, every sign that someone might be angry and Holly would try to hide. Molly constantly told her it was fine, the plate didn't matter, that she was allowed to fight with Percy over the bathroom as much as the other children, that she could argue and complain about the chores because every child did. But she didn't believe it.

She continued to cringe when Ron was grounded over back-talk to his mother. Or when the twins turned Ginny's hair blue, and she chased them all over the house to shatter one of Molly's potter plants. Or when George and Fred abandoned their de-gnoming chore, and Holly finished up alone until Arthur dragged the pair back by the ear with a bit of furious whisper and gesturing in Holly's direction.

The vacation Arthur won had been nice, except Holly kept thinking about how much it cost to bring her along as well. So as much as she loved the plane and flying in general, she had spent the entire flight on pins and needles wondering how she could offer to pay for herself without offending and had the feeling it would be an impossible endeavor.

She exited the plane with Molly and felt another fissure of uncertainty enter her heart. Place her in front of Tom Riddle and a basilisk, and she was as solid as a rock. Ask her to face down Voldemort himself possessing her professor and Holly could handle it. But, ask her to live with a family that finally wanted her and… and she was a nervous wreck.

"Bill will be picking us up." Molly explained to them, "hopefully Arthur and Ginny don't take terribly long, I don't want him to wait."

Holly cringed again, she got along well with the Weasley's so far. But Bill and Charlie, the eldest boys, she hadn't yet met, and she was terrified they'd dislike her. She really wanted to meet them, but at the same time didn't want to intrude in on the clear family vacation. This was Percy, George, Fred, Ginny, and Ron's time to see their brother and she couldn't help but feel she was intruding no matter how many times they told her she wasn't.

Her soulmate hummed a diddy in her head, but for once, it didn't help as Arthur and Ginny left the plane, and the group headed out together. Her hands wrung together as she attempted to keep to the back of the group as they went down the escalators and headed for immigration and then baggage claim. The entire time during both, the former as Arthur charmed the poor man to accept Holly who looked so different, and the second she found herself dragged to the front of the group by Ron or the twins. Her bag also happened to be last out, so Holly had no excuse to hide behind the ground because she had to find the bloody thing.

"AH!"

Holly flinched when Ron suddenly screamed as he went to close his bag which had opened at some point during the flight only to discover Scabbers had apparently snuck into his suitcase. Holly relaxed slightly as the group discussed the occurrence. Errol and Hedwig had flown to Bill's directly for the trip, but Scabbers couldn't go through the Muggle airports, so Ron had asked a girl named Luna who lived nearby to check on him. Apparently, Scabbers protested the idea.

"Better keep a closer eye on him," Holly commented, finding it within herself to tease as Ron settled his pet on his shoulder and sheepishly blushed.

"We'll have to owl him back in his carrier." Molly sighed but accepted the addition because she had to. Thankfully for Ron, the incident was dismissed as Holly's bag finally showed up and they could leave… to meet Bill.

Holly whimpered inaudibly following meekly as they left the airport in time to see a redhead with a ponytail holding out a sign with the word 'Weasley +.'

Bill was… attractive. Holly immediately found herself blushing at the roguish look, and the bright red hair; a look that a future version of herself would say was her 'type.' But her at that moment realized with horror that she very much had a budding crush on the eldest Weasley. Something that did not go unnoticed by Molly, or Arthur. The young man who knew by then from his parents how truly nervous Holly was about the whole situation, she had not hidden it as well as she thought.

So as the Weasley's walked up, Bill tossed aside his sign, bypassed his siblings and parents, and scooped Holly right off the ground. "Here's my newest sister! Welcome to Egypt kiddo!" Holly squeaked blushing up to her roots as he spun her around in a tight hug. Embarrassed beyond belief at her reaction, she burrowed her head into her hands as they spun. Before he finally placed her back on her feet and leaned down to peer right into her eyes.

"Welcome to the family Holly, and remember… I'm the only brother you can trust."

She giggled, and gave a nod in time for Bill to be tackled and sent to the ground by four of the five remaining Weasley kids. Percy alone remained behind patiently even if he looked like he too wanted to join the chaos and only narrowly refrained. Holly almost did as well, until Ron cried: "get him Holly!" and with only a moment's hesitation, tossed herself into the chaos and finally relaxed.

* * *

"Akmen-what?" Holly asked, ignoring Ginny who was a blushing giggling mess behind her. The 'Mummy' before her smiled kindly and corrected her with a gentle smile, which really only made Ginny worse.

"Akmenrah, a pleasure." The living Mummy bowed before her and Holly thought for the first time that Egypt was a rather eventful place.

Holly's vacation had been interesting so far. With the sudden introduction into puberty as she crushed hard on Bill even while her soulmate happily sang in her head unaware of her new realizations. She'd tried her best not to make it obvious but clearly failed when Molly calmly took her aside and gave her the speech and explained for the first time what a period was and how she was to react to it. Holly had been mortified, more so when Ginny had been dragged in as well because she'd passed by at the wrong time. After that, Holly couldn't stop blushing for ages.

Bill had shown them all over the Muggle areas of the cities, portkeying and apparating them all over the country for the best dinners and sights. Before they'd gone on wizard tours across the countryside to see the pyramids. The first had Holly accidentally seeing a Muggle ghost trapped in some ancient artifact that Bill told her to ignore; apparently the yellow and purple-haired figure was a common one and cursed or something. The second pyramid had Fred getting cursed, which had Bill showing off the magic he knew to fix the problem - it did not help her crush.

After that, Arthur and the Weasley's, sans Bill, had been carted off for an interview and a photoshoot with the daily prophet over Arthur's winnings. Bill took her one on one to dinner, and she'd been a stuttering mess the whole time as Bill regaled her with various stories from his childhood. It gave her an interesting look into Charlie whom she hadn't met, as well as a toddler version of Ron, Ginny, and a young Fred, George, and Percy. He'd also told her in several ways that she could rely on him no matter what, they were family now… that also didn't help her crush.

After the rest of the Weasley's had been released, they went to their third pyramid, which had the twins 'accidentally' locking Ginny and Holly behind a wall in a secret part of the pyramid. Trapped and too much of a Gryffindor to not explore, Holly and Ginny had ventured on to find a way out. Which had them running into the living Mummy, Akmenrah.

"How do you know English anyway?" Holly asked as the Pharaoh led her and Ginny to the exit.

"I might sleep during the day, but where my sarcophagus is placed allows me to hear your people venturing through my home. After enough years, I picked up the language well enough. And believe it or not, you are far from the first young witch to mistakenly get trapped in the tunnels."

"Wow," Holly noted as they turned down another path and Akmenrah turned off yet another trap complaining that his guards kept turning them on every time he turned them off. As they walked Holly saw a few drawings which looked like people singing and perked. "Hey, how do soulmates work if your a living Wizard Mummy?" she'd assumed he had to be magic to do what he was doing, even if he hadn't confirmed it, he still wasn't surprised by her wand when she'd mistakenly pulled it on him.

"The same as yourselves I should expect." He gave them both a charming look, and Ginny squealed into her hands. "We sing our songs, and our mates hear them… or so I assumed."

"Assumed?" they both asked, and Akmenrah gave them a boyish grin.

"When I lived I had no match to my voice, it was only after my death that I was able to hear them. I hear them grow now, and I am looking for a way to escape into the light to finally be with them."

"You're going to revive yourself?" Ginny asked, "and… go to your soulmate… that's so romantic!"

"Perhaps." He agreed as they went around a corner and he ran his fingers on a set of runes causing a rumble of stone to sound. Holly and Ginny turned and watched moonlight begin to filter in as a doorway opened and freedom was revealed. "But here is your way out, you should return to your parents… surely they are missing you."

"Thanks!" Ginny chirped, "we will."

She squeaked again when Akmenrah kissed her hand and bid her farewell before he turned to Holly to do the same. Holly allowed it not feeling as strongly with the Pharoah as Ginny clearly did, but still liking his company. After he pulled back, she allowed herself a single moment of hesitation before offering: "My… brother works in the pyramids if you want… maybe I could send him your way? Maybe you two could find a way to allow you to live during the day too?"

Akmenrah smiled warmly and suddenly surged forward to hug her. "My thanks, Miss Holly! I would gladly accept your offering."

"I'll… I'll tell him then." She said hugging the Mummy back before he returned her to the ground and they stepped back. "Goodluck with your soulmate though, if I don't see you again."

"And you with yours." He returned easily.

Ginny and Holly left the pyramid with a final goodbye, and Ginny was quick to nudge her. "'My brother.' Man mum and dad are gonna be thrilled! Bill too! He's trying so hard to make you like him."

"He is?!" She choked, and Ginny laughed.

"Oh sure, he told me he was scared you were nervous around him with all that stuttering you're doing, and he's our older brother, so he wants you to be able to come to him without being scared. This will make him so happy!"

"EH?!"

"Merlin Holly, with how nervous you are around Bill I can only imagine how bad you'll be around Charlie, he's covered in these awesome dragon scars!"

"…is… he, oh…?" her face went a bit airy and Ginny bust out laughing which continued until they heard Molly's voice cry their names in relief as the family came running over while Holly melted down mentally over how obvious she'd been.

In the end, Ginny had been right, Bill had been thrilled when Holly asked if he'd meet Akmenrah - who would only help Bill's work considering he was a magical living Pharaoh. And had promised to visit the Pharoah even as they finished off their trip and headed back a bare day and a half later. The family bade Bill a fond goodbye at the airport as their trip ended, with Bill promising to owl Holly about Akmenrah and Holly continuing to blush up a storm.

They returned to the daily prophet speaking of their trip, in which Holly's name wasn't spoken.

Followed by a week later, as a haggard figure plastered the front of every paper and every page. As a single gifted paper hammered a crucial nail into the wood of fate and caused Sirius Black to finally escape Azkaban, with a single thing on his mad mind.

* * *

It was Percy who opened the door. At the time Arthur was at work, Molly was grocery shopping, and Ginny had been at Luna's house to hang out. The twins were 'experimenting' in their room which was why they hadn't answered it, while Holly and Ron had been upstairs attempting to learn some muggle card games which Hermione had mentioned had her latest letter. She'd apparently learned to play with her father and wanted to try playing with Ron and Holly - mostly so she and Holly stopped loosing at chess. So Percy found himself on the front steps, in his pajama's, before the minister for magic himself who was looking for Holly. And really, what could Percy do but invite the man in?

Holly was summoned with Ron close behind and settled in front of the minister as Percy frantically changed and made the tea he was suddenly desperately grateful that his mother had taught him to make. As such Holly stood there before a man she'd never met before and tried very hard not to make it seem like she was there because she'd run away.

"So… err… this man escaped, and you're- err… checking on me?" she questioned with a twitching expression on her face. Holly desperately wished Arthur or Molly was home, or that Percy had any idea what to do either. The high pitch nervous laughter Percy was managing so far wasn't helping at all.

"Yes, my dear! We were worried when we went to check on your Muggle relations home and discovered you weren't there!"

"AH REALLY." That was too loud, Holly cringed as Percy suddenly laughed sounding a bit hysterical and Ron started to blabber. How was she was only one good at covering her ass in this place! "Well you see, Ron invited me over last week, didn't you Ron?"

"Y-yeah I did, I definitely did that last week, last week I did it!"

"He did, I helped with the letter!" Percy put forth, "the letter we wrote, to invite her. You know that one?"

"Yeah, I know that letter."

Holly felt sweat build at the back of her neck as Ron and Percy dug their graves. "I've been here for the week, just after Ron got back from Egypt and it sounds like quite a trip! The ministry is so great for helping them with it." She waved at Percy and Ron to shut them up, "Ron was telling me all about it, it's almost like I was there." Holly gave a polite smile as Percy violently twitched. "Didn't my relatives tell you that?"

"Oh they did, they did!" the minister rushed to cover, pleased by her compliments and unwilling to tell her how quickly he'd been kicked out of her Muggle home. He'd never been so offended, but he didn't want the girl-who-lived to know that, she could use it against him. Technically the woman had screamed at him that she had been with the 'freakish redheads,' and he'd inferred the truth from that.

"That's good." Holly actually relaxed at that already imagining Petunia and Vernon screaming at the minister, which might have actually been amusing to see.

"Oh, yes, it is… say, lad, when did you say your parents were going to get home?" the minister turned to a panicked and very red Percy.

"Err… that's… the… my mother- she…" he whimpered wilting.

"About an hour, sir." Ron piped up, "she's just gone to the alley for groceries

"An hour, oh very well then."

"Very well?" all three of them asked at the same time only to learn the man intended to wait. Holly was convinced by then Percy's brain would have melted, but thankfully Molly returned early and was shockingly capable of stringing together a story based on the nonsense Holly rushed to tell her before she went to meet with the man himself. She, Percy, and Ron were, of course, kicked out. Not that it stopped them from all listening, including the twins who realized what was happening and Percy who was dying to know. So, laid out of the stairs lay the five of them as Molly met with the minister.

It was with Ron's elbow in her side, Percy's leg pressed to her own, George hovering over her head, and Fred squeezed underneath her that Holly learned the truth about her parents and their deaths. Of the secret keeper, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and the mad man who escaped an impenetrable prisoner just to hunt her down. Thankfully Holly was not even close to alone as the truth came out.

As George shifted dropping his chin onto her head and reminding her, he was there. As Ron reached sideways removing his elbow to wrap Holly in a one-armed hug. As Percy pressed his entire body against her side in a silent, stoic reminder that he accepted her into his family, and even with an inability to string together a story, he still wanted her there at the potential cost of his dream job. As Fred rolled all the way over just so he could hug her. And as a voice sang in her heard as always reminded her that even if this man had cost her, her parents, that she still had a family.

Soundlessly Holly sobbed as Molly assured the minister that Holly was well looked after for the summer, that she wouldn't be left alone, and then bid the man a pushy goodbye. And she continued to cry as Molly found them all wrapped up on the stairs having realized early on they were listening in. Carefully Molly slid Percy and Ron to the side, George off Holly, then nudged Holly out of Fred's arms and into her own. As Molly hummed soothingly rubbing Holly's back as she wept and ensured that for once Holly had a mother's arms to cry into as her world shattered.

* * *

Shanks sat with his back against the helm and his eyes on his journal as he softly hummed matching the tune his soulmate was humming. She often sang that particular tune, so Shanks knew the words - sort of - to sing along, though he didn't actually know the meaning just yet.

_"Get up and go, gotta greet the rising sun."_

He swayed a bit and grinned at the parchment before him. Over the last year, Shanks had been working on this little project every chance he could get. Day by day he went to Roger stealing words from his soulmates songs and getting the man to translate them for him all to learn his soulmates language. True the grammar was terribly difficult to understand, and true Shanks was missing a lot of words. Really his attempts were patchwork at best. But he was trying, and after a year he was doing quite well he thought.

Soon he'd be able to translate Binks Sake to surprise her. He just wanted Roger to check over his translation one last time before he actually sang the song for her.

Closing his journal, Shanks jumped to his feet and sent out a small burst of haki to locate his captain. He was still learning the art, and Rayleigh had warned him often not to over-use it due to his age. The burst revealed he was with Rouge in Crocus' office, so Shanks started that way. Only a few minutes later, Shanks nearly tossed the door open without so much as knocking.

"-It's not good-" Crocus cut off his sentence as Roger and Rouge spun to see Shanks standing there with a bright grin.

"Shanks." Roger playfully glared at him, but Shanks faltered. Something was off about the three, something he couldn't place. "How can I help?"

Dismissing it and trusting his captain Shanks said: "I finished translating Binks sake, can you check it on last time?"

Roger inclined his head and moved toward Shanks, "of course, give it here."

Crocus made an aborted movement and frustrated sound, but Roger completely ignored the man. While Rouge likewise stepped forward, both of them ignoring the doctor which certainly wasn't the first time Shanks knew.

"Is this for your soulmate?" Rouge asked as Roger sang through it testing the song, amazingly Shanks was pleased to say he could understand the words coming out of Roger's mouth, unlike the other two present… if his translations were correct, that was.

"Yes, once I learn the language, we can sing each other better hints. Right now, I know nothing about her!" Shanks made a frustrated noise and Rouge giggled her hand covering her mouth. It was a way to cheat the system she knew. While you couldn't sing out your direct location, you could sing out obvious hints about yourself. When they'd been teenagers Rouge had sung about ladies with rouge lips and pink hair to give Roger an indication of what she'd looked like. While Roger had sung countless pirate songs, and one particular farmer's song which involved a straw hat.

"It sounds right lad." Roger finished the song and handed the journal back to Shanks, "try it out for her."

"Thanks, captain." Shanks backed off a bit holding the papers tight in his grip a burst of nervousness crept into his heart. He… he was wary. Years she'd not sung to him, and Shanks had no idea why- what if this scared her-

"Lad… she'll be thrilled." Roger assured him before Shanks spiraled too hard. "She's destined to be yours, she won't turn you away."

"But what if she stops singing again…" he couldn't stop but voice his fear.

"I doubt it." Rouge said, "likely that had little to do with you, and more to do with an outside reason."

"She'll appreciate the effort you put in." Roger agreed, "now, sing!"

"Right." He flexed his fingers, "okay." He turned rushing for the perfect place to sing to her, leaving the three adults abruptly.

Crocus eventually stepped forward, pushing away from his desk and moving his hand which had been hiding the results of his latest test from Shanks' eye. He went to speak, only to be interrupted by Rouge. "He's adorable Shanks, young love… I can't wait to see the young lady that matches him."

Roger's lips quirked and he leaned over to kiss his wife on the cheek: "she'll have to be quite the creature to match that boy, they'll change the currents those two."

Crocus closed his eyes at the wistful tone to Roger's words because that future would not be one he'd see: "Roger… we need to talk about this."

"No, I don't think we do." He turned and grabbed Rouge's hands, tugging her toward the door, "We've got a song to listen to, right love?"

* * *

A crack of a breaking twig sounded in the darkness outside the burrow. Holly leaning against the tree at the farthest end of the property glanced up. Dark as it was Holly couldn't make out much past the grass. She knew during the day the hills lay out toward Luna Lovegood's home - whom she'd briefly met several days previous - and it was covered in bramble and enchanted plants. Holly had been warned several times against venturing out there, she'd been told quite a few stories about Ginny, George, and Bill all getting lost and trapped until Molly or Arthur could rescue them. She was also aware that hearing such a specific noise meant that it was likely she was about to be jumped by one of the gnomes, coyotes, or rabbits that lived in the bushes.

Holly closed her book, the first magical book she owned that wasn't a school book. She'd gotten it for her birthday, and it was all about the legend of the high-elves and how they might have left their world for another. Holly hadn't quite had the chance to read it yet because of the chaos of the Weasley home. A disorder that most of her loved, it was warm, active, and always bustling. But that a small part of her was exhausted with.

Holly never got a moment to herself, not even in the bathroom was she ever left alone, and it was quickly draining to someone who had spent so very long isolated. So despite the danger on her life, Holly liked to sneak out after dark, sit by the tree, and read in the dying light of the sun. And yet, despite that danger, Holly never imagined that snapping twig was anything but a small animal.

Technically, she hadn't been wrong exactly.

The bushes shifted and rattled as Holly slowly closed her book eyes near the roots in preparation. Gnomes she'd learned were small monsters, and she was in no mood to deal with one right then especially since their scratches needed to be treated, and she wasn't exactly allowed to be in the yard. It was actually her first act of rebellion that Molly and Arthur knew about and were trying to encourage. Which was why Molly was sitting under a disillusion charm on the stairs to ensure no one snatched her new daughter from the yard.

Thankfully for Holly, it was not a gnome that poked its nose out of the bushes. A medium-sized black form crawled out of of the darkness and onto the grass, littered with cuts and scrapes from the plants, among other things. The black dog flopped out before her in exhaustion. Holly sat frozen with her book in her lap as she took in the dogs pitiful appearance and cringed in sympathy. Large gaping spots of fur was missing, what had to be mange covered large areas of its body. She could clearly see the ribs and couldn't help but wonder how the dog had even walked with how emancipated it's whole body was. Blood sluggishly fell from new and old scrapes that to a sailor would scream scurvy on a human. It lay there too exhausted to move, and for all Holly knew, it could have just died, she had no idea… but she had to check.

Carefully and slowly, Holly put down her book and crept into a squatted position as she crawled toward the dog. Soothingly she hummed the song her soulmate sang that always made her feel better. The dog slid an eye open, and it's tail swatted the ground in a weak wag, so Holly dared to move closer and sink her hands into the fur on its head. "It's okay." She soothed, "I have you."

She glanced toward the burrow and bit her lip. Daring to read outside was a small step to bringing an animal into the house, but if she didn't then… then it would probably die, and Holly didn't want that. "Okay… okay…" she carefully eased her arms under the dog's body and lifted it up with a lot of awkwardness. It was thin, yes, but it was still a rather large breed, and she was only thirteen. Wobbling and nearly tripping several times Holly made it to the door not realizing Molly had spotted her, the dog, and had rushed inside to 'meet her.' Personally, Molly wasn't thrilled, but she likewise didn't want to turn the dog away when Holly was only trying to help. They were trying to encourage her to ask them for help, and this was a perfect chance to see if she would or not.

Holly by then made her way into the burrow and gently placed the dog on the floor beside the couch. She was unwilling to dirty up the sofa with the dog even if she'd seen George drop an entire experiment on the cushions just a week previous, which caused it to smell for days. With the dog on the floor, Holly leaned back and hesitated, she could hear Molly in the kitchen but was incredibly nervous to call on the woman for help.

"What is that?!" Exclaimed Ron's voice and Holly flinched as she realized he'd come down the stairs intending to fetch her before it got actually dark outside.

"…a dog."

"A grim!" Ron corrected in a high pitched tone, "where did you get it?!"

"He came out of the bushes, and he's just a dog, Ron." Holly eyed the dog trying to figure a breed but couldn't due to its state, "he's… a lab and… err… a… something else."

"Merlin Holly."

"He needs help," she insisted, "do…. Do think Miss- Molly will be mad?"

"Well." Ron approached eyes intent on the dog, "I dunno, they said no when Ginny brought in that gnome… but it was a gnome, so no one was surprised. There was also the spider incident-" he made a face, "-thank Merlin they didn't let the twins keep that one. Merlin above, it really looks like a grim. What is your luck?"

"Potter luck." She quoted Hermione quickly as she ran a hand in the dog's fur when it got a bit twitchy at Ron's voice. Its eyes were full and bright and were intent on Ron in an odd way.

"Right, forgot about that… well, it is in the house now, so the best we can do is ask. At worst she'll probably send it to a magi-vet. Which I think I need to bring Scabbers too, he's been so sick lately. I think maybe the trip made him sick." Ron glanced toward the kitchen, ready to call his mother when Ginny came around the corner with a limp form in her hands.

"Hey Ron, I think Scabbers is-" whatever she was going to say Holly would never know. Not as the dog too weak to walk mere minutes before launched to its feet and bodily threw itself, jaws snapping, at Ginny. Ron was knocked sideways, sent flying into the coffee table when it shoved him to the side, and Ginny screamed as Scabbers bit her and the dog slammed into her chest feet first. Teeth caught air as Scabbers went spinning and Ginny was sent crashing into the family clock. Glass shattered, yells echoed upstairs in concern as the dog bounced off Ginny to chase down Scabbers.

Under the table they went as they quickly rounded the room. Ron was torn between checking on Ginny who was sobbing, and now blood covered, or saving his rat which was running for its life as the living room was steadily destroyed. Holly didn't hesitate as she dove for the dog, as bad as Ginny was, Holly's entire being was frantic with how badly she'd get in trouble for bringing the dog inside the house in the first place-

Molly stormed into the room with her wand up- Holly caught the dog around the back legs a second too slow. And the dog's sharp teeth crunched into Scabber's small body. Someone screamed as the rat gave a dying screech as teeth slid right into its lungs, it might have been Holly or a horrified Ron, but their cry was nothing compared to the screams they both released as Scabber's vanished and a bloated fat man replaced him.

The body hit the ground, the man already dead when the dog had caught him, with his rib cage caved in.

Holly screamed, kicking frantically away from the stranger with the dog still in her arms. It had utterly relaxed now that its mission was complete and allowed her to drag it back toward the broken couch. Which was when Arthur, the twins, and Percy came pounding down the stairs tripping over each other in their haste.

They came upon the living room destroyed, Ginny sobbing in a shattered clock, Ron turning over and throwing up, Molly too shocked to understand what happened, and Holly sitting there with a filthy black dog in her arms.

* * *

Arthur often forgot his mother had been a Black, but at that moment, he was very aware of it.

Upon finding the situation in the living room, Arthur had raced into emergency mode and had taken charge. He'd bid the softer George to collect the story from Holly who he believed to be the most functional at that moment, Fred to remove Molly from the situation, Percy to handle Ron before he'd rushed to Ginny's side to discover if she needed the hospital or not. Thankfully most of her wounds were superficial, and once Fred had calmed Molly, she had been able to heal Ginny. Which left Arthur to handle… the body.

How the calm afternoon had resulted in a corpse in his living room, well that had come from Holly. But he'd greatly overestimated how composed she'd been at the time.

Sobbing and nearly incoherent George had held her and the dog which refused to be parted from her side as she gasped out the story filled with more apology than information. The story seemed simple enough, she'd found a dog, brought it in to be looked after and it had done after Scabbers. That alone Arthur understood, the dog had to have some terrier in it, and Arthur knew they hunted rats. And that the dog got hold of the sickened rat was likewise understandable. The problem was after the dog caught the 'rat.'

"No Holly." He soothed brushing her tears away, "it's alright sweetheart, it's a good thing you brought the dog in. If you hadn't, we never would have known he wasn't a rat." And that thought he shoved back for when she wasn't in front of him, "you did so good Holly, so good."

She gasped and hiccuped, frantically wiping her face and glanced to the body. A reminder that Arthur had a corpse in the living room and all the children had seen it. Only two remained in the area with it now, but that was definitely a problem he had to deal with. "b-but, who is he?"

Arthur grimaced and glanced at the body, at the unmistakable face of a man he'd thought he'd known well and the truth edged at the corners of his mind. "That… that is Peter Pettigrew." He admitted honestly. George's eyes went huge, and both children froze looking at him. Arthur nodded and calmly explained: "we knew each other very well, he was part of the Order during the first war… we called each other friends, I… mourned him when he died... when I thought he died."

"But dad-" George blurted before snapping his mouth closed as Holly finished the thought in all their heads.

"If he's- he was alive, then how come everyone thinks Sirius Black killed him." Her hand absently sank into the dog's head, and it gave a snuffling satisfied sound in its sleep.

"That I don't know, but I believe whatever happened twelve years ago was far more complicated than I first thought."

"It can't be a coincidence that Black escaped now could it?" George pressed for information Arthur didn't have, "do you think… "George had a sharp mind, and he could guess, but there was no way of knowing the truth. Not since Pettigrew was dead and Black was on the run.

"We can't know." Arthur said as he stood his back cracking as he got up, "now you two, head to your rooms… and give the dog a bath and some food."

"Wait, we're keeping it?!" George blurted as Holly obediently stood dragging George with her.

"We are," Arthur confirmed ruffling Holly's hair as she calmed and placed himself between the kids and the body. He hadn't lied to Holly, it was a good thing what the dog had done. But what Arthur hadn't mentioned was how furious he was that the rat that slept in both Percy and Ron's beds all throughout their lives was a fully grown man. The very idea had him enraged, he couldn't breathe from the anger of it and couldn't express how pleased that the random arrival of the dog had revealed this. True, the death was unfortunate… but as he'd said, his mother had been a Black and no Black was utterly sane, not even him.

Arthur nudged the pair out of the room and was left alone with the corpse, a corpse that should not exist. Legally he ought to call the Aurors then about the situation, but even if Arthur worked for the ministry, he was aware of its faults. A body in his home, the corpse of Peter Pettigrew around the girl-who-lived, if Lucius discovered this Arthur's family would be destroyed and he knew it. If this truth came out so too would his kidnapping of Holly, willing or not, that might result in a trip to Azkaban.

Arthur wouldn't risk it.

"Levicorpus." He intoned wand pointed at the body.

His mother was a Black, and this was not the first body he'd… disposed of, he had fought in a war after all.

"Dear?" Molly whispered after Arthur returned alone without a single spec of dirt on his person.

"Yes, Molly-wobbles?" he greeted, noting that the living room had been set right and the blood wholly removed from the carpet.

"Do you think Sirius could be innocent?" she questioned in the darkness of the room, the kids long asleep as the witching hour came upon the house-hold.

"I think… it's possible, but between his innocence and Holly's safety, she comes first." As all the kids did.

Together Arthur and Molly discussed the event Molly never asking where the body ended up, while Arthur didn't question how easily Molly removed blood stains from the house as he hadn't the first time she'd needed to. A decade after the war and signs of it lingered on and always would. As they chatted about what to do about the kids and what they'd seen the children slept on. George filled with theories and plans, Fred curled around him already haunted by the sight. With Ron who had crept into bed with Percy, and Percy who hadn't complained as they shared an equal thought about the rat they thought to be a pet. Or with Ginny and Holly slept feeling secure together in the same bed with a large black dog situated happily between them, at peace mentally for the first time in twelve years.


	5. If You're Not The One

"Making a delivery… across the sea? No, 'bringing it across the sea.'" Shanks pressed his hands together, turning the tips of his fingers white with the pressure and exhaled. For several days he'd had the song ready; Roger had checked it over and confirmed it. Shanks knew his soulmates language, knew how to sing it to her, he'd translated his favorite song, the first she'd ever sung back to him. It was ready, he was ready, but his nerves seemed to disagree. Feet shuffling Shanks kicked at the sand under his feet and made an aggravated noise. He was being a wimp, chickening out on something so… huge. Shanks grabbed his hair, tugging it, and groaned loudly unafraid that anyone would see his moment of weakness.

The captain had stopped them at a spring island in the middle of a fall Brew-fest festival. Roger and Rouge had been equally giddy as they rushed off the ship, arm in arm ready to try all the foods, drinks, and activities. Truthfully the crew hadn't been able to tell who had been more excited about it, Roger, Rouge, or Rayleigh. The entire group had split into separate directions once off the Oro Jackson. Buggy had broken away quickly, no doubt to take advantage despite being underage, and Shanks intended to do the same… once he'd done what he'd been putting off for weeks.

Today was his perfect chance. He'd found a private beach, the sun was up, his soulmate had been cheerfully humming all morning, so she was in a good mood. He knew the exact words he needed to say, Shanks was ready.

"Just do it." He told himself and shook out his hands. Righting his stances, staring out at the ocean waves, hearing the distant music of the festival, Shanks opened his mouth and hoped for the best. If she were his, she'd be happy about the effort he'd put in, glad to finally communicate. He'd finally find her and her island, they'd be together, and he'd show her everything that Roger was currently showing Rouge.

"Yohohoho, yohohoho."

A whole world away, Holly followed behind Ron and his family with her trunk clicking along behind her. She had already done the goodbyes, the first she'd ever given with an actual family, and a place to miss while away for the year. Molly had kissed her forehead goodbye, and Arthur had hugged her tighter than she'd ever been hugged before. Both of them had bid her farewell with one final warning about Sirius Black, one more to add to her collection since the man escaped a month previously. Holly had nodded along, but hadn't actually promised to stay away from the man as Molly and Arthur wanted her too.

The summer had been an eventful one starting with her kidnapping, though she'd given permission for that. Holly had met a living Mummy whom with she now had a pen-pal. Discovered she had a thing for redheads. And watched a man die in front of her. One would think, as Hermione did, that she'd be terribly bothered by the latter. Except for the fact that Pettigrew was not actually the first person Holly had seen die; this one wasn't even directly her fault, the dog did it!

Really, from the Pettigrew incident, Holly had learned a bit about her parents. She'd gained new information, and even more questions about the night her parents died, and she became the girl-who-lived. Such as the fact that it hadn't been an accident that Voldemort died, it had been planned, because why else would they need to go into hiding? So as Molly and Arthur had her promising not to hunt down Black, Holly knew she was already planning on doing exactly that - if only to learn the real truth. This was about her past, and her future, Holly needed to know the what happened, there was no way around it.

Outside the heap of new information; Ginny had a brand new problem for her squib councilor. The Weasley's now knew that Arthur and Molly were a lot less loose with laws than earlier assumed. And George's had a new obsession with learning the truth - he'd be an excellent accomplice to her plans Holly decided - she had also gained a pet. The dog had been named Padfoot at George and Fred's insistence, and he was recovering slowly. He'd gained back some weight hiding the ribs all but stabbing out at them when Holly found him. They'd shaved him free of the knots and had a proper vet help them with the mange and fleas. His fur was steadily growing back revealing black fuzz, darker than the chocolate color he'd possessed before after being covered in filth. And his limp had faded after they healed the crack in his left back leg bone. So physically, Padfoot was doing well, but mentally… he was… off.

The Weasley's didn't notice it because as purebloods, they'd only ever see the highly intelligent crups before. Holly, who'd grown up running from bulldog and hearing her aunt Marge endlessly going on about raising them, quickly realized Padfoot was different. He was a muggle breed, a Wolf-hound mixed with a touch of Labrador the vet had said, but he didn't act like, for lack of a better word, normal. Padfoot had intense nightmares every single night, ones that would wake him up and send him into howling fits or into a flight that had him careening outside into the brambles by the property line. His fits could only be calmed by Holly or Ginny, for when he was like that, he didn't respond to anyone else.

During the day, Padfoot had a blankness in his eyes and mind. Sometimes it took quite a few calls of his name to get him to respond to it, and he'd turn to look at Holly as if he had no idea where he was. When not doing this, he attached himself to Holly, following her everywhere he went and had him growling at every perceived danger his mind came up with, such as a leaf, the breeze, the sun, Fred on occasion.

Percy was convinced he was her familiar, a stupid one, but one none the less. This had severely angered Hedwig, who had taken serious offense and had turned on Percy in revenge for his comment. Despite that, Molly and Arthur had agreed, or perhaps they just didn't want to deal with Padfoot's nightmares when Holly was at school, so they'd personally contacted McGonagall and gotten permission for the dog to go to Hogwarts. Therefore, as Holly boarded the Hogwarts express, four paws padded along behind her as Padfoot's long tail weakly swished.

The one bright side to all this Holly decided was that Padfoot got on amazingly with Hermione's new pet cat, better perhaps than even Ron did. Holly personally had no idea what she'd do if the pets didn't, considering she and Hermione shared a dorm room.

Boarding the train behind her best friends, Holly watched as Hermione rearranged her cat carrier and turned to shot Padfoot a look. "He's the weirdest dog ever." She commented already aware of the circumstance in which they found him. Ron and Holly had alerted her to the Pettigrew incident when they'd gone shopping for their school supplies. Something Holly only barely had permission to do considering the Sirius problem.

_"Yohohoho, yohohoho."_ Holly's eyes crinkled as her soulmate's voice picked up in her head, he'd been quiet lately, and she wasn't used to the silence. She was glad to hear from him again.

"He's not weird, that furball is weird." Ron snarked, he was very much not a cat person the girls realized. Then again, he might have also been bothered by the fact that Holly and Hermione both had pets now, and his turned into a fat man who was potentially a mass murderer. Holly had personally offered Ron a replacement in an owl they'd seen at the shop, but he'd refused.

"He is weird, and so is Crookshanks." Holly took a more neutral stance, which basically was that both animals were beyond bizarre from a muggle-raised standpoint. Hermione's cat was a highly intelligent miniature lion, and her dog was as daft as a doorknob with what had to be PTSD if he were human. "But their still good pets." She reached down and ruffled Padfoot's ears causing him to yip and dance a bit in place before his attention wandered almost instantly to the floor and a scent he had caught. He circled the ground with his ears pointed toward her, and she rolled her eyes, walking down the corridors as her soulmate reach the first lyric of the song. The words she didn't and might not even know the meaning of; the words Hermione and Ron had long learned despite it being another language and, it was not her soulmates language that slipped from his lips.

_"Gather up all of the crew, it's time to ship out binks brew-"_

Holly tripped over her own two feet. Her hand helplessly reached out, catching nothing but air as she attempted to stall her fall. Arms windmilling Holly screeched and collided right into Ron, tangling together they crashed to the floor. Hermione watched this all with a perplexed expression. Flat on her stomach with her arms out, Holly stared forward, nose to nose with Padfoot, who was giving her a clear expression that said, 'now why did you go an do that for?'

And her soulmate sang the next line in heavily accented English.

"Pen," she gasped out, "I need a- 'Mione! quill!" Holly scrambled, tangling herself further with Ron, who had only just tried to get back to his feet as she hurled herself at her trunk and wrenched it open. Beside them, a compartment door opened, and Pansy Parkinson stuck her head out, to immediately roll her eyes at the chaos as Holly hurled her clothes to the side, desperately looking for a quill and ink. Why didn't she just have a pen, that would be so much easier!

"Why am I not surprised. It's the Gryffindorks." She sneered at them, and Ron blushed bright red in embarrassment, that tripled as one of Holly's undergarments hit his face. Pansy scoffed and slammed the door on them as Holly gave a triumphant scream and slammed a parchment down in the middle of the floor to furiously start writing.

"Holly!" Ron tossed the fabric away from him, and Hermione caught it rushing it back into Holly's trunk, both covering for her, and Padfoot gave a very human-sounding snicker.

"Shush!" she slapped at Ron when he got too close and focused her attention on the song in her head, the song her soulmate was singing. In English.

"What is going on, Holly?" Hermione asked, closing Holly's trunk.

"He's singing in English." She pressed the parchment she found to the floor and cursed every god that existed that she didn't have an actual pen. Instead, Holly was left with a quill and ink, and with extreme chicken scratch she hurriedly wrote the song as he sang it. The ink went everywhere, it brushed her nose, coated her hands, and went all over the parchment. But most of the song Holly was able to write, most of it.

"What?!"

"In English?" Hermione knelt beside her in the train corridors as Padfoot stared at the paper as well, seemingly just as curious as Hermione was. While Ron finally wrestled himself to his feet. "' Say so long to port's renown.'" Hermione read as Holly wrote, then it clicked, "oh, oh! Bink's sake! The song he's always singing, oh, this is brilliant!"

Hermione flopped onto the ground beside her, set aside the cat carrier and her own trunk, and rushed to pull out one of her many journals to rewrite Holly's chicken-scratch. Working Hermione began jotting down out the words they did now and started to compare words to see which words she could translate right there.

"Uh… confused?" Ron leaned against the wall as the train shoved into motion, he sighed as it did. He had a feeling they weren't going to be moving from the hallway any time soon, and they didn't have a compartment if there were any available in the first place.

"It's Holly' soulmate, he's translated his language into English. How did he do that!? I've been trying for years. Oh, but this is amazing, if we know what some of his words mean then we can translate our songs into his language and we can give him hints about how to find you!" She, of course, had been doing the very same for years, which is why she knew her soulmate was dark-haired, dark-eyed, and went to Durmstrang. She was clever with her hints, unlike Ron, who didn't bother, convinced fate would present her to him when he was ready. Hermione didn't understand that point of view, they knew Ron's soulmate went to Hogwarts, and he wasn't even a bit curious?

"That's great… are we going to find somewhere to sit?"

"No!" Holly said as the song ended, "I need him to- oh! Yohohoho Yohohoho. Gather… uhh… up all the crew?" She sang loudly in the middle of the hallway urging her soulmate to sing the song again. She shot a look at the words she had so far and attempted to stitch them together with the language he spoke so he'd fill in the missing spots for her. It was a mess, really, but it was her only chance.

Ron and Hermione exchanged a look as she did this. At the girl who in their first year couldn't sing at all, who even the year previous refused to sing in public unless it was with people she knew well, as that same girl sang out loud where anyone could hear her. The pair smiled fondly as Holly connected to her soulmate.

Sitting on the beach, Shanks didn't disappoint. He'd managed to get through the entire song without his soulmate joining him, and natural anxiety had him worry that perhaps he'd gotten the words wrong. That was until Shanks finished petering off, and she responded. Singing louder than he'd ever heard her sing before, putting every effort into the words, and royally destroying any sense of coherency to Bink's sake, she mixed his common, with her language. It was a demand for him to do it again, and Shanks' grinned utterly fondly over it.

She was adorable, and he was half in love with her already. All Shanks wanted to do was to bask in the chaos of what she was doing. To take in the moment and just remember every botched note and confused word. He wanted to memorize the way each translated word she sang sounded just a touch different than what he'd done. As she showed him how it was supposed to sound even as she buttered his own language.

Shanks laughed, checked his journal, and joined in.

"Day and night to our delight, The voyage never ends." They sang together. One standing on the beach with his eyes closed listening, the other furiously writing with ink-stained hands until they were both singing entirely in Holly's language.

* * *

"Can we get off the floor now?" Ron asked after Holly had the entire song written down, once in her own chicken scratch and four times in Hermione's careful printing. The girls sat knee to knee in the corridor, their heads together as they pieced together the words that were the same and tried to translate the language.

"We should pick a song to try and translate next," Hermione suggested ignoring Ron entirely, "something easy, but a hint to where you are?"

"Not the school song," Holly figured, "it'll be impossible to translate the houses without more of his words. Unless we translate most of it. If we work with him to translate the rest… maybe?"

"But without being able to show him what the words mean, that'll be difficult, not impossible, of course, but difficult none the less."

"I want to try." Holly grinned at her friend, and Ron sighed, opening his trunk to fish out the lunch Molly had made him and Holly, enough for them and Hermione. He slowly opened the sandwich then offered a bite to Padfoot, who had taken to napping at his side.

"Logical," Hermione tapped the papers, "the grammar to his language is so confusing!"

"That might just be English, actually."

"Oh! You're right, perhaps there are different rules to the language, like Japanese?"

"I can't speak Japanese…"

"Well, neither can I, but I heard it's relatively easy to learn with enough effort."

"That's every language, 'Mione." Ron drawled when he choked on his sandwich as the train slammed on the breaks, lurching violently, the three of them and everyone else on board were thrown to the side. Flopped on top of each other for the second time that day; the group, which not included Hermione, groaned. The lights shut down a split second later, plunging them into blackness, the only light came from the sun hidden by the thick rain clouds overhead.

Struggling in the dark, the pair righted themselves.

"What the bloody-"

"Ouch! Ron, that's my hand!"

"Lumos." Hermione's wand lit up, quickly followed by Ron's and Holly's as they each took their feet. Nearby heads poked out of compartments as the students looked out to see what had happened. Closest to where they sat, Pansy joined that number, her eyes narrowed upon seeing they were still directly outside her compartment.

"I thought I told you Gryffindorks to get lost." Pansy snarked, causing Holly to make a face of perplexed confusion, that was not a magical saying. But the thought passed when the temperature abruptly plummeted. In seconds Holly found she could physically see her breath, a moment after that, ice started to crawl up the windows closest to them, and all the hair on Holly's arms stood on end. At her feet, Padfoot whimpered and shoved into her knees, nearly sending her to the ground again.

"What?" Hermione exhaled as the three of them and Pansy, all stared glanced down the corridors looking for a cause.

Toward the front of the train, it appeared. A shadow slid in, a form floating above the ground as if caught by the wind when no wind existed. A shiver raced down Holly's spawn as some innate instinct deep within her screamed out in warning. Then it's hooded head turned towards them and took in a long rattling breath.

"Oh, Circe…" Pansy breathed in, "get in, right now!"

Its body followed its head, and it started forward, floating, gliding towards them. Holly needed no further prompting; she scrambled for Pansy's door dragging a frantic struggling Padfoot with her. She abandoned her trunk completely and hurled herself into the seat beside two Slytherin's. Ron and Hermione were a bare step behind, and they, with Pansy, flung the door closed.

The two Slytherin's inside the compartment spoke as one:

"What is it-"

"Pansy, what?"

"Barricade it!" Pansy screeched with full-on panic racing through her brain. Trunks were rushed forward, thrown on top of each other, and one of the Slytherins spelled the door to lock it before the pair turned to Pansy in question.

"Pansy!?" demanded one of the snakes, a boy with dark skin and piercing eyes.

"Dementor- there is a bloody Dementor on the train." Ron gasped for breath as the creature floated in front of the door. The six in the compartment shrank back silenced immediately as it rattled out a breath. Its hand reached down toward the handle achingly slowly, and the Slytherin's spell locking the door snapped as the door started to open.

Holly scarcely realized what was happening as Pansy pressed into Ron frantic to get away from the door, as Ron's hands automatically came around her purely because she was there. Padfoot was crying, cowering in front of her, but his hackles were on end despite his terror. Hermione's Lumos extinguished as clawing despair reached into their hearts, and they were plunged into pitch-black darkness. Tthe door slowly opened, pushing aside the trunks as if they weighed less than air.

"Yoho-hoho." Holly desperately sang, her voice shook like nothing before, and the door opened, revealing the creature.

Someone was screaming-

"Yoho… ho…" the dementor fixed its attention on her, and it inhaled-

_"Please, not Holly- Please! Take me instead, anyone but Holly-"_ everything went black.

Shanks at the same moment felt higher than the moon as he left the beach to join in the festivities, and hopefully avoid being caught by Rayleigh; when he stopped. Her voice, shaking and terrified echoed in his head like a warning. No louder than a whisper, the start of Bink's sake began and stopped dead, as if she'd been cut off by force. Something in his chest froze, something beyond his own emotions, something almost supernatural. And he knew deep down it was a warning.

His hands were shaking as he opened his mouth and sang the next line, as he waited.

Nothing answered him.

"No, no… no no no no." His mind was on repeat, on the terror in her tone as she sang the line.

"Yohohoho," he insisted, and no one answered. "Answer me!" It wasn't even in song, just a desperate cry.

But she didn't.

And Shanks learned then for the first time how helpless he could be.

* * *

Consciousness came to Holly slowly.

There were fogged voices speaking above her, a gloom to her being that she couldn't explain. There was a cold nose pressed into her palm, and someone's hand at her back. But all this was muted, it was distant to her mind. Holly felt raw, felt like she was actively being dragged back toward unconsciousness- she just wanted to stay asleep, to never wake up again. It was like her cupboard; the Dursley's were outside speaking calmly, and her body was a mess of bloodied wounds, and he was-

_"Yo… ho… ho… ho-"_ he cut off, rasping as if he'd been singing for hours non-stop, and as Holly listened, he repeated the line, again and again. The drag on her consciousness slipped, and voices cut through to her.

"Is she going to be okay?"

"She almost lost her soul, Weasley, of course she's not."

_"Yo… hoho… ho."_

"Shut up Zabini, how dare you-"

"Ron, calm down. Holly will be fine… she just… needs some rest."

"And a healer."

"Zabini-"

"I'm not messing around Weasley, Potter is not 'okay.' She needs medical treatment, and she needs it now. I can't believe we have no proper precautions against this sort of thing."

"Precautions against a dementor? Blaise, I'm exactly Dumbledore's fan, but you can't exactly blame him for not expecting this."

_"Yoho-… ho… ho."_

A dog whimpered, and the nose pressed closer into her hands.

"It's beyond the dementor Daph. We have no way of getting to the school, no way of calling for help. We're left with what? The seventh years to help? They're too busy consoling the first years and other students, eight of which passed out on top of Potter."

"There was that professor-"

"Oh yeah, 'have some chocolate, I'll be right back.' Super helpful that one."

"At least he knows more then Lockheart!"

"Everyone knows chocolate helps against dementors, that's not a stamp of his skill!"

"Well… you- I… shut up Zabini!"

"Oh, very articulate."

"Blaise… stop."

_"Yo… ho… ho… ho."_

Holly forced her eyes open and hissed as the light made her brain scream in pain. She clammed her eyes closed again as the compartment freaked.

"HOLLY?!"

"Are you alright? Can you hear us?"

"Don't crowd her, she just regained consciousness you Gryffin-morons."

"Light," she whimpered. It immediately got darker, allowing Holly to open her eyes and accept her glasses, which Hermione handed her. This allowed Holly to see that she was surrounded by concerned faces. Three Slytherin's, Ron, Hermione, and Padfoot were all watching her as if she were made of china. Pansy, the boy she had to assume was Blaise Zabini after hearing the conversation, and a blonde were all trying very hard not to look concerned, but Holly could see right through them.

"What… happened?" Holly managed to ask rubbing at her chest and the excruciating pain burning at her heart.

"A dementor got on the train," Hermione began, "it was looking for Black… but it was oddly focused on you."

"Bloody thing almost sucked out your soul," Ron added, "we saw…" he cut off and swallowed, "we saw it leave your mouth and…"

_"Yoho… ho-… ho."_

"-And then the dog charged it," Zabini finished, "that thing is definitely your familiar; otherwise, it's the stupidest beast in the world." Padfoot, as if to prove a point, allowed his tongue to loll out of his mouth, which just screamed moron. The Slytherin's scoffed and sat back, allowing Holly to realize she'd been placed on the floor under a pillow and blanket, neither of which she recognized.

"That would be mine," The blonde commented, "I'd appreciate if you got off them before more of your stink gets on them." She held a hand out, and scoffed as if she really didn't care, as if she hadn't been endlessly worried when Holly dropped at the dementor's feet. As if she hadn't almost seen the girl-who-lived, a child her own age nearly kissed by a rogue dementor out of Azkaban. As if she hadn't given Holly the pillow and blanket she'd had since she'd been an infant just so Holly's head wasn't against the floor.

"Sorry…" Holly reached under her and handed the items back so she could sit crossed-legged on the floor.

"Whatever."

"Sorry again, but who are you?"

Fury crossed the girl's face before she snarked: "Daphne Greengrass, I assure you it's not a pleasure."

"Never mind her," Zabini interrupted before Ron could snap again, he leaned forward and held out a chocolate bar… for some reason. Holly gave him a confused look, and he scowled. "It seems I am finding myself proven wrong, someone doesn't know, and of course it's Potter," he shook his head, "eat, it'll help before Pomfrey checks on you."

"She doesn't need-"

"Yes, she bloody well does-"

_"Yo… ho ho… ho."_

Holly took the chocolate and sank her teeth into it, shockingly she instantly felt better, and quickly she began to wolf the candy down while Hermione explained why the chocolate worked against dementors and what a dementor actually was. She also added in explaining that the chocolate had come from the random appearance of their new defense professor, a man named Lupin. The man had apparently sent the dementor away with a powerful light spell before he'd taken one look at the group of them, then had left. And he hadn't returned.

While Holly was listening, her concern wasn't actually on the professor that would no doubt try to kill her that yer. But instead, on her soulmate's tone and the rasp as he sang the same line again and again. She couldn't remember what happened before she passed out, but Holly had a feeling she might have sung to him. Which meant he very well might think something awful had happened to her, which it had.

"Yohohoho." She sang with a cracking voice causing Hermione to give her an uncertain look.

"Holly?"

Holly waved her off and rubbed her eyes, "he's singing in my head, has been since I woke up. Just letting him know I'm fine." He probably had been since she'd passed out, which meant he'd been singing for hours without her responding. Holly felt guilt rush up even as the compartment fell silent as the group took in her words.

"You… are a moron, he would have no idea anything is wrong," Greengrass stated before singing something quickly under her breath that none of them missed.

Zabini smirked and sang louder, uncaring if the Gryffindor's heard him, "If you're not the one~."

"Then why does my soul feel glad, today~" Pansy finished scowling over the fact that she wanted to do the exact same as Holly. As she did, Ron shot her a look, his brows punching together but kept his own mouth shut just as Hermione did.

In another world, Shanks pressed his hands to his eyes as he sat in complete darkness on the beach and rubbed at the tear tracks that had long since dried.

"Thank Poseidon." Shanks rasped, his throat burned as he finally allowed it to rest, and suddenly he understood the day he'd found that homeless man. That man who'd knelt in the middle of the street, mouth moving, but absolutely no sound coming out. As he choked and bled, but he didn't stop. Shanks had been too young to understand that the man's soulmate had died and that all the man could do was sing on alone after that. And Shanks prayed the gods would not be so cruel as to do that to him or to the people he loved.


	6. Galway Girl

Ron was staring at it, he had been since the moment he noticed it and he really couldn't look away.

"You can see it right, Holly?"

Holly glanced up splitting her attention away from Padfoot. Her poor dog had been deeply affected by the creature she'd come to learn was called a dementor. A being of darkness that guarded Azkaban, a beast that could suck away your very soul, one that drained away happiness just by proximity. It was a being from nightmares to any that possessed a soulmate, and she couldn't fathom why they would be guarding the magical prison. Holly had learned quickly that dementors, after a certain amount of time, could steal your soulmates voice, snatching away the sound. Hearing that, well, Holly didn't blame Sirius Black for escaping. Magical prison was indeed 'inhumane,' as Hermione said.

The dementors attack had nearly ripped her soul away, and she was still feeling dangerously faint after what happened. It was hard to describe, Holly felt weak, but not physically so. She was emotionally drained, and there was an aching pain in her chest where her heart was, that wasn't going away. To get over it, Holly focused on her savior of a pet who seemed more affected than even she was. Padfoot had all but spent the rest of the ride to Hogwarts in her lap. While in the carriages, he'd climbed onto the chair to cuddle her and couldn't be budged.

Turning away from Padfoot's furred head, Holly glanced up. She noted the skeletal horses dragging the carriage to the school and nodded. "Since last year… why?"

"Wait, what horses?" Hermione looked up from her book toward the front but seemed to see nothing. Holly frowned, and Ron made a face. Both of them gestured to the creatures, but Hermione continued not to perceive it.

"Those ones." Ron pointed, "but they definitely weren't there last year, I think I'd remember that."

"They were," Holly insisted, "they're quite friendly though, I've seen them in the forest occasionally flying over the trees."

"There are no horses!"

The carriage slid to a stop, and they all clambered out. To prove a point, Holly marched to the nearest horse and planted her hand on its side, showing Hermione that there was something solid there. "See, right here."

"Holly, you're touching nothing!"

"She is! There's a horse!"

"It's a thestral actually Ronnikins." Announced George who had been waiting for them at the school entrance. He and Fred had both heard of Holly's close call from a laughing Ravenclaw. The girl claimed she'd passed out and nearly lost her soul; though no one around the girl had found it funny. The twins had been worrying terribly until she arrived looking pale, but alive. George walked past the thestral, which he was now capable of seeing and hugged Holly around the middle. "Alright, Hols?"

Holly pressed her face into George's shoulder feeling far better about hugs than the start of the summer and mumbled. "I'm okay, Padfoot protected me." Holly was getting terrible used to affection with certain people due to staying with the Weasley's; they were touchy, and Holly found she actually enjoyed the contact.

George gave her a goofy grin and patted the dog over the head proudly: "I owe you a bone. Good boy." He released Holly as Fred came in for his own hug, not noticing that Padfoot didn't react at all to the praise, the dog only stared blankly on. Fred took his hug as George embraced Ron, and they pulled back to get away from the incoming carriages.

"So, what's a thestral?" Ron asked once they were up the stairs a bit.

"A magical creature, you'll learn about them in Care of Magical Creatures and Defense this year," Fred explained well aware that Ron and Hermione had taken Care. "They are meat-eating, friendly skeletal horses that can only be seen by those that have seen death." He didn't need to explain why he, George, Ginny, and Ron could now see them after the summer they'd had. Though he was curious as to why Holly had been able to see them a year before.

Thankfully someone in their group had no filter: "So how can you see them, Holly?" Hermione asked, chasing her curiosity.

"Oh… I suppose it's because I saw Quirrel die."

"It could also be because of her soulmate," George added, trying to pull the event from her head. None of her new older brothers had been happy to hear about Quirrel or the basilisk. "Some legends say that you can see a thestral when you lose your innocence. And since you and your soulmate are connected, many theorize only one half needs to have seen death for both to see a thestral. But they haven't been able to prove it."

Ron sped up his pace a bit as the scent of cooking food hit them, his appetite was back and in full force. "I doubt that's the case for Holly, her life is abnormal with its danger. Her soulmate is probably living a normal life."

Holly shrugged. Either way, she could adjust, and she could ask soon! She had a translation to his song now, and with Hermione's help, they'd quickly learn his odd language. On top of that, her new classes would only help her reach him. Hopefully, she'd learn more about him soon with the communication opening up. She did also hope Ron was right, her life was dangerous, and she hoped her soulmate didn't have to deal with the same chaos that she did.

"Potter. Granger." The girls both turned spotting McGonagall, who was standing by the stairs. Her eyes roamed them, focusing on Holly specifically before stating: "join me in my office." Holly and Hermione exchanged a confused look but obliged, they bid a temporary goodbye to the Weasley's before the voices of the students started to fade. Following into the quieter hallways soon all they could hear was Padfoot's nails clicked on the stones of the school as McGonagall led them to her office.

"Miss Granger, please see me inside. Miss Potter, remain here a moment."

"Yes, Professor." The girls answered, and Holly quickly claimed a seat, only to notice she wasn't alone in the room even as Hermione and their Professor left. The new Professor, the one who gave them chocolate, was inside the room with her. Personally, considering the previous two defense professors had nearly killed her, Holly was wary of being alone with the man. Nervously Holly leaned away from him as she put her guard up. Automatically Padfoot leaned back, he settled his head in her lap and eyed the new guy.

Nearby a clock ticked. The man didn't say a thing as he stared at Holly and Padfoot, in return she stared right on back, daring him to act. In her robes Holly firmed up her grip on her wand waiting for it.

"He's beautiful." The man suddenly commented, "where did you get him?"

"Err…" Holly flexed her hands on her wand as Padfoot huffed a noise: "he… I mean I found him in a bramble field behind the Burrow… err, that's my friend's house."

"I see." He pushed from the wall and circled the room before hopping onto the desk, McGonagall's specifically, which made her slightly scandalized. "When did this happen?"

"This… summer…"

He smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes, Holly knew exactly what a smile not reaching the eyes looked like, and his was a textbook perfect example. She tensed slightly, defensively, even as she prepared to shield at a moments notice and never allow herself to be alone with this man if she could help it. She was not getting caught in another deadly situation with a defense professor thank you very much. "And, may I ask, what's his name?" his eyes flashed almost golden? Why had they done that? Was she seeing things?

"Padfoot…" he flinched, his entire body jerking violently as Padfoot growled in the back of his throat. "my bro- George and Fred insisted on the name."

"I see." His expression looked like he was about to throw up like he was going to be physically sick, and it only grew worse as he asked his last question: "and… he's been with this entire time? How has that been? Is he a good… dog?" The dog came out after a brief hesitation like he'd wanted to say something else. Holly uncomfortable almost wished McGonagall would hurry up, she wanted to go anywhere but there.

"Yes sir, he's a good dog…" hurry up, Hermione, hurry up!

The door opened, and Holly nearly threw herself from her chair as Hermione told Holly to head in to speak to their Professor for her turn. Only for the guy to ask one final question. "Miss Potter."

"Yes." She forced turning his way.

"This may sound odd, but… have you ever seen a rat, brown in color with… a missing toe?"

Pettigrew, it had to be, but- how did he… what did he know?

"I… err…" she glanced at Hermione for help, but her friend also appeared stumped by the sudden question, so Holly was forced to blurt out: "one Uhm… my friend Ron, he owned one like that but it… well Padfoot killed it this summer. Which was for the best… err… it… bit Ginny, yup, his sister, it bit her so… good riddance."

"It was a nasty bite too! Got infected!" Hermione rushed to add detail, "and they gave him a rat funeral."

"A rat funeral, very upsetting."

"But a beautiful service." Merlin above, they sounded like Fred and George.

"Miss Potter." Holly swung toward McGonagall, who smiled kindly and handed her a paper, "your time-table. With that you may accompany Miss Granger to the Great-Hall, the matter was solved, you can be on your way."

"Oh." She accepted the parchment, "thank you Professor… I'll do that."

She retreated toward Hermione, only giving her time-table a brief glance, she had Runes and Arthimacy as Holly had asked, so she was content. Holly had chosen both after Molly helped her research the requirements for her chosen career as an unspeakable. The only occupation that had access to the portal or anything like it. It was the career she was gunning for with her whole being. "We'll be on our way then." The girls retreated, Padfoot on her heels. All three of them casting a look behind them as the new Professor entered McGonagall's office with the door clicking shut behind him.

"So, what was that about?" Hermione instantly asked, "she was stalling with me, I think she wanted Professor Lupin to speak to you?"

"He was oddly suspicious about Padfoot, and he knew about Scabbers… do you think?"

"Maybe he knows that Scabbers wasn't what he seems?" Hermione frowned as they rushed on, "it's possible, and if he did know, then maybe he knows the truth about that night. About Sirius Black?" Padfoot tripped slightly but they paid him no mind. "Perhaps George is right, maybe he is innocent."

"If he is then this is a giant cover-up," Holly mused, "it wouldn't surprise me considering my life… but why would that happen?"

"My first instinct says it's about you. Perhaps… no, that's mad."

"What? Tell me."

Hermione made a face and stopped in the empty hall. Wringing her hands slightly, she admitted: "Maybe it was to keep you with the Dursley's, Dumbledore kept insisting there was a blood protection… and if Black was your god-father; well wouldn't it make sense that if he were innocent, that he'd adopt you? And if he did, you wouldn't have that blood protection from your aunt."

Padfoot suddenly started to loudly growl, hair all over his body standing on end. Absently Holly hummed a soothing noise to calm him but kept most of her focus on Hermione while she thought on that. "If that's true… then…" her mouth felt dry, "I mentioned it to him… that they hated me…" she hadn't used the word before 'abuse,' and still couldn't, but surely she had made it clear to the headmaster? "what they did. I told Dumbledore, but he said I couldn't stay at the school… that I needed that protection, I thought… well, it made sense; no one else would take me, right?" Except that wasn't true, the Weasley's had done so much to keep her safe. They'd taken her even with the increase in cost and danger she posed to their family. Still, she wanted to give the headmaster the benefit of the doubt, maybe she hadn't been clear. "We're just jumping to conclusions right now, the headmaster wouldn't do that."

Hermione didn't look convinced: "that was my first thought too, but… I can't give you a reason to say why he wouldn't or would. We don't know him, no one does. So… it's just something to keep in mind. Sirius Black might not even be innocent." Still, Hermione wasn't going to forget it. She didn't know the magical legal system yet, but if Dumbledore was supreme Mugwump… shouldn't he be ultimately in charge of those trials? Or was that someone else? She'd need to look it up.

Nodding along Holly added: "We'll have to keep an eye on the new professor too, he's suspicious."

"Not to mention the last two tried to kill you." Padfoot tripped again and Holly gave him a pitying look. Her mad dog still wasn't healthy, and the dementor attack had not helped. She'd probably have to carry him up the stairs at one point at this rate, thank Merlin for feather-light charms.

"Exactly."

Holly shook her head slightly as they entered the Great Hall together. Ron was sitting beside his sister, he caught their eye when they appeared and waved them over to the empty seats he'd saved. Padfoot slid under the table once they were seated as the general populace of Hogwarts made themselves comfortable. Ron, the moment they were down, started to ask the questions they knew would come out.

"What happened?"

"McGonegall wanted to tell me about my classes, and the new guy has an unhealthy obsession with my dog, might know something about the rat… also, Dumbledore might be evil." Holly deadpanned as Padfoot gave a canine bark that she would swear was laughter. Ginny, at the same time, burst out laughing choking out an 'only you,' while Ron's mouth dropped open.

"You were there for barely ten minutes! How did that happen?"

"We'll talk about it out of public company." Hermione interrupted.

Agreeing to do so, Holly fished out her journal from her inner pockets. They had perhaps ten minutes yet until the sorting began, and at least thirty before they started to eat. Ron was already complaining about the food, so Holly found a way to distract herself. From her hunger and the adventure already beginning on the first bloody day of school, and from the lingering touch of the dementor's hands on her soul. Feet kicking idly Holly looked over the work she and Hermione had already started on her soulmates language and immersed herself in it.

"Gather up all the crew…"

* * *

"This homework is insane, these runes aren't different 'mione!"

Sirius watched Holly's head crash to her desk and snickered. His pup had taken a problematic pair of classes for her dream job as an unspeakable. Personally, he had taken Divination and Care to spite his mother, who'd wanted him to take the same classes Holly had voluntarily taken on. Lily, however, had done the same courses as Holly did now, and James had followed with runes to 'stalk' Lily, with care as his second. Unfortunately for Holly, Sirius wouldn't be able to help her with either class, even if he decided to reveal himself.

Truthfully, Sirius could do so at any point. His mind was growing clearer each day away from Azkaban, and he knew she, her friends, and the Weasley twin suspected he was innocent yet, he couldn't do it. Every time he went to, every time he decided she had to know, he chickened out.

Holly loved her dog Padfoot, she allowed him close and told him things that she often kept to herself. But how would she react to the man Padfoot really was? The man whose mistakes orphaned her and left her with Muggles that physically and emotionally abused her for years. That was his fault, everything she'd suffered had been a result of his actions. Because he'd convinced James and Lily to go with Peter, because he'd gone after him when they died and gotten himself arrested, because he hadn't escaped earlier. It was all him, every horror story she finally allowed to lips from her lips in the dark.

She'd hate him, and he couldn't handle it.

At least as a dog, he could stay at her side; as a dog, he could watch over her and protect her from threat. In his furred form, he wouldn't bring the public eye down on her and the Weasley's who'd taken her in. Oh, he was sane enough to realize his name would never be cleared, and therefore he'd never be allowed to adopt her; and in the worst case… she'd be returned to those people, and he'd be kissed.

So a dog he remained.

Though, that did not stop him from being him. He might have more of a canine brain now, a side effect of spending too much time in his animegus form coupled with his decade in Azkaban. However, he was still Padfoot of the Marauders.

Stretching out his body, he flicked his tail against Holly's leg, causing her to glance his way. With her watching, he snuck off, ensuring she knew he was doing to prevent her from panicking. She had the first time he'd done it, though he suspected that was because of the dementors surrounding the school, which was steadily affecting everyone in the school. Even from a distance, the creatures were draining at the students, young and emotional as they were. The hormones hanging around, the growth they all had to do, the feelings and open connections to soulmates would all draw a dementor, and anyone under age would be particularly suitable to the darkness of the creature. Honestly, Lily had hated the very idea of them even being at the prison, most people did hate it. But to have around children? Sirius had no idea why people weren't rioting in the streets about it.

Regardless, with Holly aware of where he went, Sirius headed out of the common room and down the halls on a familiar path.

No longer did he walk under a cloak too small to hide his feet. James' shoulder wasn't bumping his side as Remus desperately tried to keep him quiet. There was no howling at the moon as he playing danced around four hooves. No James mooning at and serenading Lily Evans, who was well aware of who James was but who kept demanding he mature if he ever wanted to be with her.

_"You sound like a drowned turkey Potter, maybe you should take lessons."_ Lily stood in the hallway in his memories, hands on her hips with Snivellus a step behind her. His shoulders were up and defensive now that she was close. Not so innocent a few minutes previously, when he'd been attempting to hex Sirius from behind.

_"Lovely Lily!"_ James perked up, his eyes turning into hearts as he swooned before her. His soulmate, Lily Evans, Merlin James was obsessed and always had been. Sirius had been treated to James' poetry about the girl in his head from the first moment they met, and it only got worse when he realized Lily was that girl. A pity Lily found him wanting. Then again, James did seem to love the challenge. _"I wrote you a new song, would you like to hear it?"_ He didn't wait for an answer as Remus loudly groaned, Snivellus cringed, and Lily… blushed? Well well wasn't that interesting.

_"Don't you dare!"_ Lily snapped, _"my ears haven't recovered from the last one-"_

And James refused to listen, convinced he'd win her over through song.

_"M**y**yy**Yy**y gi**f**t is **m**y so**N**g-"_

Sirius wrenched his gaze away from the shades in the hallway and forced himself onward. He had a mission to complete and revenge to dish out on the bat that was Holly's potions professor. Snivellus was going to pay for insulting his pup. Pay in pink.

Upstairs, Holly tossed her homework done with a huff. It wasn't due yet. Still, with a combination of Hermione's insistence and her own desire to reach that distant reality where her soulmate resided, she was taking the courses quite seriously. She just hadn't expected it to be so much. Runes ironically she breezed through, something about the patterns and symbols just clicked in her head in a way only defense spells had. But arithmancy… numbers was not her thing, and learning anything about it was like a challenge. Honestly, she wished she had a damned calculator, what she wouldn't give for the Muggle invention.

"I need a break, my brain needs a break; otherwise I'm going to snap," Holly said. She'd just finish the rest later. Idly she glanced at Hermione who's hair was bushier than usual. It was only a few weeks into term, and her friend was already looking like it was exam season. Full bags under her eyes and everything. "And so do you." She decided. Standing, she stretched out her spine and rolled her shoulders, but Hermione didn't so much as glance up from her Divination work.

That in itself was beyond suspicious. Runes and Divination were at the exact same time. Yet, Ron had told Holly that Hermione had most definitely been in his class at the same time that Holly had been in Runes with Hermione. "' Mione." She nudged, reaching to poke Hermione in the side, the girl didn't even twitch.

"Soon, I'll meet you there."

Holly pressed her lips together: "I didn't tell you what we were going to do."

"Singing probably, like I said, I'll meet you there."

Well, alright, that was just a decent enough guess. Holly did tend to work nonstop on her singing and translating her soulmates language from the multitude of songs her soulmate was offering her. He was steadily rehashing every song he'd ever sung to her one at a time in English. Each one helped Holly get a reverse grasp on speaking his language but it was a slow progress for both of them. "Alright, just don't take too long."

Hermione didn't even acknowledge that as Holly slipped out of the room, heading randomly toward the Great Hall. She was on the hunt for Ron. He'd left far earlier in the afternoon after getting tired of his homework. It was another warning sign on Hermione's part because their homework crazed friend didn't comment at all on the abandoning of his work. Leaving, while exchanging a look with Holly Ron, had told her he was going to see about some quidditch with Ginny practice. He was secretly hoping he'd make it on the reserve team for Gryffindor. If Holly wasn't so determined to become an Unspeakable, she very well might have joined him, that and she did, in fact, find Runes highly engaging. Complicated, yes, but enjoyable? Definitely.

In the end, it was not Ron she found first, but the twins. Standing in the hallway near one of the multiple empty classrooms, the twins had their heads together over some large parchment. Likely some plot in the making. Feeling a touch mischievous Holly started to creep forward to surprise them, but it was the twins that shocked her. Abruptly, just before she cried out their names to startle her, they spun grinning and loudly cried her name.

"Holly!" She jumped slightly, feeling her heart skip a beat, then she blushed in frustration. So much for that.

She could see the forked tails waggling behind the twins as they surrounded her, they knew very well what she had been trying, and they were proud. Holly was their newest sister, but she hadn't experienced a life of brotherly teasing yet. Their little Holly was just getting her feet under her, realizing she could try to scare them, tease them, and get mad without ruining their relationship. The more relaxed she got, the better, in their opinion.

"Little sister of ours."

"How are you this fine evening?"

She glanced between them, pretending she hadn't seen them swiftly hide something behind Fred's back. "Hi, guys." The parchment was replaced behind their backs by something new, and she arched a brow, wondering what they needed a decoy to hide. What was that first parchment?

"What are you working on?" She hinted at the original parchment, which they said nothing about. Honestly, they acted as if she was blind. She was a seeker for a damned good reason, and with her new glasses, a proper prescription this time, she could see even better than she used to.

"Ah!" Fred swayed to the side, revealing the replacement. "Curious are we little sister, well come take a look!" he beckoned her forward and brandished a hand down at some sort of potion recipe. Holly furrowed her brows at it and took a wild guess.

"For your shop?"

"Got it in one!" George clapped on her the shoulder showering her with casual affection. "This one will turn your skin, and just about everything else it touches a lovely shade of fuchsia." Idly he wiggled his fingers at her revealing the tips of his nails had been slightly tinted. It was another sign that this was George as she'd correctly known, George had a better hand with potions so he'd be the one experimenting. Fred, on the other hand, was better with Runes, which was why she went to him more often than not for help with her homework. Fred or Bill, that was, who she was relaxing around finally.

"Is it permanent?" she asked as they sheepishly ducked their heads.

"For the moment, yes… we're working on that though."

Holly snorted, pulling away from George's grip: "I love pink as much as the next girl, but not permanently, you keep that away from me."

"Why, sister mine? Don't you want my love?" George made a grab for her as she squealed, ducking under his grip she was caught by Fred from behind. He held her up like a sacrificial pig as George wiggled his fingers toward her threateningly. He was, in fact, going to make full contact, which may or may not turn her pink when a boom sounded off in the distance. All three stopped and exchanged a look, but no follow up came.

"Did we forget a prank?" Fred asked George, who shook his head in a negative.

"Sounds like the dungeons." Holly wiggled free of the twins, "probably a potions accident." Thank Merlin she'd already done her potions for the week, Snape would be off to a terrible mood thanks to that. Though, thinking of lessons: "Hey, do you guys know of a way someone can be in two places at once… magically?"

"Poly-juice?" George offered, touching his fingers to her arm just to prove he could, and didn't leave pink behind. The solution was long dry, so he wouldn't spread the coloring.

"Time-travel?" Fred rolled up their recipe and tucked it away.

"Wait… you can time-travel?!"

"Alas! Our poor muggle-raised sister! So naive." Fred dropped a hand to her head, "let me educate you-"

"WEASLEY!"

All three of them flinched as a bright pink form appeared down the hall. They stared in abject horror as Snape, hook nose and cloak, billowed toward them, leaving behind glowing fuchsia footprints. He was covered in color, from head to toe, he was pink.

"Uh oh."

"Did do you do that?" George asked, hurriedly hiding his hands.

"No." Fred sounded a touch high-pitched torn between hilarity and realization that they were pretty much fucked. Even as he acknowledged this, he shoved something at Holly, parchment, and Holly smuggled it into her robes. Then she made a tactical retreat choosing not to be anywhere near there when Snape laid into the twins.

Though, she was confused as to why Fred had given her the recipe, and a large piece of blank parchment.

* * *

The universe decided to reward him for pranking the beast of the dungeons. Sirius was alone in the dorms for a well-earned dog nap; he had to catch up after all the wandering and pranking he'd set up during the night. He'd woken long enough to note Holly dropping her outer robes before rushing off again when Ron called up. An hour later, Sirius was still alone but awake. So he'd stretched out deciding to take a temporary break from his canine form to snatch some of Fay Dunbar's Muggle books. The girl had a thing for Muggle fiction and had dozens of the books on her shelf when he got the chance he read some of them, and he had to know who the culprit was.

When he got up, Sirius accidentally knocked Holly's robes to the floor and picked them up, tossing them back to the bed. When the parchment fell out. There it was, that eerily familiar work they'd spent months upon months working on. The one that had Sirius trapped for an entire afternoon as James attempted to guess passwords after he'd fallen into a wall into a new area. Their map, the map holding his, James, Remus, and Peter's magic.

Holly had their map.

His eyes flew wide in horror as he snatched it off the floor. Holly could not have this. One look at the map and she'd know who her dog really was- oh Merlin, she'd freak. Frantic Sirius twisted on the spot before making a quick plan. He didn't have the time to change the runes, so his name would remain Padfoot and not Sirius on the map, but nor could he find it in himself to destroy the map either. Therefore, he had to trick her. One more sin to add to his tally.

He stole some parchment, stashed the real map, transformed… and sank his teeth in.

Hours later, Holly sheepishly looked at the floor as she approached Fred and George with guilt dancing across her being.

"Holly, dear sister." Fred turned toward her suspicions up, he knew that pose… the pose of guilt, but why was she in it? "do you have our parchment?"

"Your recipe?" she nodded, yes that she had, but… Holly set her bag on the ground in front of her, "I have it, but Uhm…" she blushed nervously as she handed the recipe to George, who was closer, "the other one, the blank one? Padfoot sort of... might have… eaten it."

"HE WHAT!?" they screamed in horror.

"Sorry! I'm so sorry! I'll replace it?"

"It's gone- the map! Our beloved map!" they flailed on the ground dramatically to her guilt moaning about a map and terrible bad dogs. Holly could only apologize again and again, unaware that the actual parchment had been hidden away in her suitcase, and a decoy had replaced it. Unaware that one pleased as punch dog was going to use that particular parchment to the best of his abilities in the coming future. And that one specific canine was desperately grateful that the Weasley twins hadn't taken a closer look at a particular dog on the map.

"Not our mapppppp."

"Noooooo!"

"Sorry!"

* * *

The 'noble' art of Divination was a giant waste of time. Honestly! She had gotten more out of Muggle Studies, and she was a Muggleborn!

Hermione should have known this class would be a mess when she'd smelled the Sherry on her professor's robes on day one. Not to mention, Sybill Trelawney seemed to enjoy targeting poor Neville with death predictions that were turning the boy into a nervous wreck due. Truthfully that might have something to do with the predictions and his unfortunately close proximity with Padfoot, who'd not so much as growled in Neville's direction. The harmlessness of Holly's dog didn't matter to Neville or the purebloods because they had become convinced Padfoot was a Grim. Defending her friend and her pet to the best of her abilities, Hermione had pointed out on every occasion that Padfoot was not a Grim, he was at best a wolf-dog mixed with Labrador. But no! The pure-bloods refused to believe Muggles had dog breeds that weren't the one-tailed crup or a grim. And as a result, Neville and just about every other pure-blood that came across Padfoot was convinced they were going to die.

She digressed; Hermione was no quitter, and she was determined to learn Divination. She was keeping up with all her other classes, from Care with Ron, to Runes and Arthimacy with Holly. Hermione was on top of her homework. Sure, she didn't socialize anymore. And technically Hermione hadn't helped Holly at all with her translations, and she felt guilty about that… but she was functional. She could handle it, Hermione was sure she could… at least, until that particular lesson.

Sitting opposite Ron, Hermione stared into the crystal ball before her and tried not to give their professor an utterly incredulous expression. "I beg your pardon?" and failed.

"Hermione it's fine!" Ron took the class because it was easy, he could admit that. He knew Hermione and Holly were both going for Runes and Arthimacy, but the idea of the classes and the workload had made him pale. Ron knew Holly picked based on her desire to become an Unspeakable to find that otherworld portal, and Hermione was Hermione. And as much as Ron loved the girls, he was not following them into that chaos. So he'd gone with Care and Divination, and oddly, he was excelling, even if Trelawney was a touch batty. Not to mention, he was often distracted like Parkinson, who sat directly behind him.

Ron secretly hated that he noticed the day Parkinson's partner Greengrass dropped Divination - and wasn't he just a little smug that Hermione outlasted the Slytherin. And when Parkinson was placed in a trio with Bulstrode and her Ravenclaw partner. None of the girls truly got alone, and since Ron sat in front of him, he knew very well that they didn't. It was hard to miss the whispered sniping between them. Ron was also secretly grateful that Holly hadn't taken Divination because she, unlike Hermione, would definitely notice his building obsession with the Slytherin girl. Of which he was entirely in denial about.

"No." Hermione snarled stomping to her feet as silence fell around them. Everyone in the class was staring now if they hadn't before. Though Ron did think Trelawney was a touch harsh with her predictive nonsense, he refused to put any stock into the woman's words anymore. Not after living with a Grim since the summer. Hermione though, she took it a bit more seriously. "How dare you! You're a teacher, you- you drunken bat!"

Their professor huffed the picture of an adult unimpressed with Hermione's 'childish' tantrum. Hermione was right though, the woman had pushed it too far, she just refused to accept it or apologize.

"Sit down, child."

Oh no.

"Child!" Hermione puffed up like an offended cat, like her angry cat. Crookshanks did the same thing anytime Snape, Dumbledore, or Lupin wandered near him. "You just- do- I-" Hermione was beyond furious, beyond words even, and Ron sank into his chair. All this because Trelawney had looked into his crystal ball and decided he was going to die in an admittedly gruesome fashion. Apparently, he was doomed to bleed out while defending his soulmate as rescue came too late. Then again, she'd said the same about Neville two months before that, so Ron didn't take it too seriously.

"-lacking the third eye-"

The crystal ball on the table was thrown off of it, and half the class jumped when it shattered. At that, Ron arched a brow, it had to be a fake then. Authentic crystal balls, ones that had been adequately enchanted, didn't break. One more reason not to think much about their professor's words, at least in his opinion.

Hermione stomped out, screaming that she quit and leaving him without a partner, at least for a few minutes.

"Miss Parkinson, as I had predicted. We would find you a partner in no time."

_Oh no._

"No." Parkinson gasped out loud.

"You will be partnering with Mister Weasley, move quickly as I collect a new crystal ball for your table."

Why? Just…_ why._

* * *

It was time.

Holly rubbed her fingers together as Hedwig gave her a comforting hoot, which served to boost her confidence.

They'd finally reach April; it had taken her that long to prepare herself for this event. She was going to sing in her soulmates language, a song she chose explicitly for this event. After all the songs he'd sang to her, one every month or so that she memorized and sang right on back to him. Holly was ready to return the favor.

All in all, it had been a relatively uneventful year. Yes, Dementors were surrounding the school, but it had been a relatively peaceful year. Lupin had tried to kill her - yet - and seemed entirely focused on Padfoot for some insane reason. For a more mad one, Holly would swear Padfoot was messing with the man. Other than that, there seemed to be a series of pranks plaguing the school and specifically Professor Lupin and Snape that the twins pleaded innocence on.

The Christmas holidays had been spent in the castle for once, instead of the burrow. Holly suspected was purely because of the eyes on her over Sirius Black, instead of the desires of Molly and Arthur to spend the holidays with Charlie, whom she still hadn't met. None of the Weasley's were going to admit it, so she wasn't bringing it up either. Holly had gotten them all gifts, including Charlie, and had received in return. The only odd thing about the day had been the book on runes from an unknown source. One which was highly advanced and beyond rare that had Hermione drooling over and Ron putting up half-hearted warnings about Sirius Black that neither girl had listened too.

Other than that, the trio agreed it was, in fact, a bit too peaceful considering an alleged mass murder had escaped prisoner. With his escape, there had been mention of his name plaguing the papers for weeks. But since then, there was nothing. No sightings, no word, no hint, no sign at all. Sirius Black seemed to have vanished off the face of the earth. It was to the point that most of the student body was convinced he either drowned in the ocean escaping Azkaban or had run off to another country. Ironically this had Malfoy and his father demanding the dementors be removed from the school with Dumbledore.

Holly was hoping it would happen.

"Okay, I'm ready… or as ready as I'll ever be. 'Sate… Watashi-'" she stumbled and pushed on. She was singing this song, she was.

A world way, Shanks paused before leaving his room and felt his lips curl upward. His heart swelled in joy, and he dipped his head to bask in it. Months he'd been singing to her about the pirate life, about the ocean and freedom, scurvy dogs and venturing out into the open seas as he painstakingly translated song after song. One word and song at a time, she corrected his accent, teaching the actual sound of each one of her words. Truthfully he liked to say if he ever met her, he'd be fluent in the odd language of her island. Still, he wondered if she'd ever return the favor, and now she had.

_"Well, I took a stroll down the old long walk."_

Now he knew why she sounded so amused when she corrected his accent, he's was a disaster even he could make sense of what she was trying to say. Idly he corrected her, changing the sounds to what they'd be. When she corrected, he could see the blush in her tone and gave a fond grin.

_"And I ask you, mate, what's a lass to do? 'Cause her hair was black, and her eyes were green."_

Shanks strode toward the kitchens when he paused. Suddenly she cut off the song and started to sing that line a second time with clear intent in her voice, and it clicked. "Her hair was black, and her eyes were green."

_Oh._

She was describing herself through the song! She had black hair and green eyes.

After the third repetition of the line, she continued while Shanks attempted to remember the word for the color of his own eyes. Then when she reached the chorus again, he chimed in startling a few members of the crew as he passed them. None of them were used to speaking another language entirely, so far as they traveled the world, they'd never encountered an island that did that.

"And I ask you mate, what's fella to do? 'Cause his hair was red, and his eyes were gray."

_"I took her hand, and I gave her a twirl. And I lost my heart to a Galway girl."_ He truly had lost his heart to her, to his dark-haired green-eyed beauty. The laugh and joy that lingered in her voice, the stuttering nervousness that used to plague her voice. The softly whispered songs in the dark, the focus in which she tried to sing in a language she had no idea how to navigate just to return the favor to him.

The gods matched him to her, and he was a romantic at heart. He knew she was his, they'd match each other perfectly. Compliment each other and urge each other on, soulmates. The woman he'd show the world too, the one who'd enjoy every minute of it with him. Gods, he couldn't wait to meet her. To have her in his arms and know precisely how it felt to do so.

"See I've traveled around, been all over the world!" he sang loudly, picking up the lyrics relatively quickly, "but I 'aint seen nothing like a Galway girl."

They'd finally done it, they could both communicate and translate their own songs. Soon Shanks could plague her with endless songs about pirates, the ocean and sing the island songs to tell her exactly where he was. Then she could return with her own island song and he'd finally be able to find her through it. They were on their way!

Holly left the Owlery with a bounce in her steps. Padfoot wasn't long in finding her, and she beamed at him once he did.

"My soulmate has red hair and gray eyes." She announced without preamble, "and one day I'm going to find him and travel the world like a pirate." A brand new world, a world where pirates were common and magic plentiful. A world beyond that impossible portal where a completely different language was spoken and countless sights could be seen. "I'll see the ocean and new lands… I'll be free."

Free of the Dursley's and Voldemort, free of the eyes on her back and the title attached to her every step. Of course she'd miss her new adoptable family but no one said the portal was one way. Maybe she could figure out how to go back and forth so she could visit and naturally introduce her soulmate to the Weasley's and Hermione. "It'll be perfect, Padfoot… just… perfect."

An perhaps, in an ideal world, it might have very well worked out.

"HOLLY!"

Ron rushed up to her side, looking somewhat red as he gasped: "Have you seen Hermione? She stormed out of Divination, and no one's seen her since."

"Brilliant, she's been complaining the entire time-"

"Not Brilliant!" Ron snapped, "she's run off, Patil are going on and on about Trelawney's correct predictions. Neville's losing his mind again convinced I'm going to die, and I'm stuck with Parkinson as a partner because Greengrass ditched the class months ago. I'm stuck with a Slytherin Hols!"

Holly shrugged: "At least it's a decent Slytherin, they did help on the train. Maybe she isn't so bad."

Ron made a disgruntled sound: "That's not the point- just- help me find her!"

"Lead the way."

* * *

Slytherin's were one of two things, and one of those was not Pureblood, even if she was. To get into the house, you have to be Ambitious or clever but not necessarily both. Crabbe and Goyle were ambitious but moronic, so they were Slytherin. Daphne was clever with intensely focused ambitious. Blaise was a clever man-whore. Millicent was ambitious and intelligent but a half-blood - proving her earlier point. Pansy, Pansy was ambitious, and in some regards, she was also clever.

Pansy was bright when it came to appearances; she knew how to act ditsy, so people overlooked her. She knew how to bat her eyelids to get attention. Knew when to blend in and when to stand out. Pansy was also clever when it came to connections, she knew relationships. She knew exactly who to befriend to benefit the most. And admittedly, her school-work suffered because she didn't put in the proper effort, Pansy knew she'd survive regardless.

That was if she didn't get distracted.

Her mother had taught her from a young age about soulmates with a chip on her shoulder. Her mother had not married her soulmate, but she had found the man in the middle of a war. A muggle Pansy's mother had whispered to her in the dark. Hair like the sun, a smile that made the darkness parts of her light up, eyes as blue as sapphires. He'd been beautiful, kind, a wonderful soul, and entirely without magic.

_"Oh, Pansy… he sang like the angels."_

But at the time, her mother had been engaged, promised to Pansy's father to continue their blood-line. To create one more pure-blooded child. At the time, her father had already been a death eater - oh yes, she knew what he was Pansy couldn't deny that. And the war had been in full swing.

Pansy hadn't needed more information than that to realize how the story ended. A dead muggle with blonde hair drenched in blood, a victorious father who won his prize covered in the blood of his wife's soulmate. A pregnant woman forcing a smile who, in the dark hours of the night, whispered to her too young daughter.

_"Ignore that voice in your head Pansy. They hold the promise of the world… but they'll only bring you pain."_

Ignore him, her mother said. Ignore then as Pansy stared around the Great-hall three years in a row hearing the school song in her head as hundreds of students sand at the same time. Ignore him, even though he had to be a first-year just like she was since they started singing the song on the same night at the same time. Ignore him as she caught Potter, Granger, and Weasley singing in some strange language that didn't exist and couldn't be copied all the while matching that boy in her head.

Pansy was bright, but it didn't take an intelligent person to put two and two together. Ron Weasley, the blood-traitor, the girl who lived's best friend, was her soulmate. And she'd known it since she was eleven years old.

She avoided him, heeding her mother's warning. Pansy saw it in her head, the one picture her mother had of her soulmate, a man frozen in time. A moving picture as Pansy's mother introduced a Muggle to what magic could do and the utterly awed expression on his face as he reached up and kissed her mother. Merlin, her mother had been so happy in that picture.

And yet she kept almost running into him!

In the hallways where he was walking with the two girls, and she'd been forced to abruptly change direction lest she run into them. Or when Draco decided he needed to fight Potter and Pansy had to act her part and laugh at all the proper places because her father was in Draco's pocket. Or when, Merlin forbid, they ended up in the same bloody compartment when a Dementor attacked! How was that her luck!? And then she'd done the stupidest thing in her life and sang in front of him. Pansy blamed the unsettled feeling from the Dementor's attack on that impulse. Thankfully Weasley was too stupid to notice she was his soulmate… which some secret part of her was rather upset about.

She was grateful when things went back to normal after the attack. She avoided Weasley, and he ignored her. It worked. Pansy would marry whoever her father decided, and she'd never become a blood-traitor because Weasley happened to sing her her head. He'd never be a bloody stain on the ground because she'd given it like her mother had. She was fine without a soulmate.

"Miss Parkinson, as I had predicted. We would find you a partner in no time."

Perhaps Pansy should put more stock in how determined the universe was to place soulmates together. Her avoidance tactics barely lasted two and a half years, and now Ronald Weasley was her literal partner in class, a class she'd taken on a whim. Because somehow both their original partners quit. Pansy doubted she'd forgive Daphne for this any time soon.

So so she stared anywhere but at her Divination partner and he stared anywhere but at her. They had a project to finish together. But neither of them were all that confident they'd get it done unless, of course, they started talking. Which they refused to do. Pansy did not want to destroy her reputation for the red-haired moron, who might very well realize what she was when they actually spoke. Ron was convinced she was hatching some wicked plot with her 'snakey' brain.

The group project lay between them, and still, they refused to talk.

Sybil sighed at the pair. They'd have to get over it eventually, as Albus had told her, cooperation between Slytherin's and Gryffindor's was a must with the uncertain future before them. They'd adjust, or they'd fail… and she'd simply put them on another team project together. It could be fun. Perhaps a prediction to that effect? Yes, that would help.

"My children! I have seen! Cooperation between you is crucial to the future!"

Pansy rolled her eyes, and Ron huffed both sarcastic in the face of their professors nonsense. But no, they definitely hadn't agreed on that. They hadn't!

* * *

"Bloody hell," Holly swore when she came too. Fuzzy shaped jerked to attention, a furred head perked, and someone handed over her glasses. Holly shoved them onto her nose and glanced around at the ragged members of her family. "What happened." She deadpanned at their expressions.

Ginny sitting on the end of her bed, explained calmly: "the dementors swarmed when we started the pick-up game started. They targeted you almost instantly."

Holly remembered suddenly and exhaled. She'd been the one to suggest the game feeling a bit too claustrophobic in the school since she couldn't go to Hogsmead. She'd dragged together several people, and they'd grabbed more from other houses to create a fun quidditch match to relax. And then the field had been swarmed when it hadn't at any other game before.

"Freaking Diggory didn't even care, he was right there and didn't even attempt to catch you when you fell." Groused George, who had a nasty gash across his face.

"Pretty sure that was because he was behind her and didn't notice-" Hermione trailed off and hurriedly said when they all glared her way: "-I mean, that… rat- no not rat… uh… cockroach! What a terrible person…" The group ignored Hermione, who trailed off with a faint blush.

"Thankfully, you fell past Fred, and I saw your hair and lunged."

"Was one of the most wicked things I've ever seen." Ron said grinning ear to eat, "George threw himself from his broom to grab you out of mid-air, then Fred caught up and grabbed him."

"Might've dislocated your shoulder." George glanced away, "Sorry about that, Pomfrey fixed you right up, though."

"Ah," Holly rubbed the back of her head, "better than a shattered spine and death… thanks, guys, for saving me." She flopped back onto her pillow as Padfoot climbed up, trying his best to avoid Madam Pomfrey's gaze, animals weren't allowed in the hospital wing after all. Her family covered him well enough, Ginny and Ron shielded him with their bodies and the twins spoke loud enough to hide any whines he might have given off. They'd truthfully all started covering for the dog, especially since Padfoot insisted on attending her classes, Potions and defense specifically, which had given both Lupin and Snape fits.

Snape had actually kicked her out the one time he'd spotted him, and Lupin had turned a fascinating shade of white.

"What did Dumbledore say about it? How'd you get rid of the dementors?"

"Lupin was passing by, he used that shield of his again," Ron explained, "came out as some sort of four-legged thing this time… Hermione called it uh-"

"The Patronus charm."

"Yeah, that, we agreed that we'd all try to learn it… you in?"

"Of course." Anything to keep those creatures the hell away from her and her soul. "When we do start?"

"What is that animal doing in my hospital!"

"Uh oh."

* * *

Shanks ducked under Rayleigh's sword and brought his own to match. His haki flickered along the blade before failing to his ire. Observation haki he could handle, but armament continued to give him trouble, especially in a combat situation.

Behind him, Buggy was sliced to pieces again, and the parts caused havoc to his haki. Shanks grit his teeth as Buggy screamed in anger and distress as he tried to rebuild his body while curious out Shanks and his name. Shanks valiantly attempted to keep focused on his training-

"All Shank's fault-" a piece of Buggy's ass dropped right in front of him, and Shanks tripped. Truthfully he avoided Rayleigh's next attack as a result as the first mate took advantage of his distraction.

"Oi!" he swung around toward Buggy and kicked the piece back toward his friend: "keep that to yourself! I need to bleach my eyes now!" especially since Buggy couldn't control his clothing either.

"This is all your fault! If you hadn't-"

"You're the one who-"

"Well if you-"

Around them, the crew sighed as another argument explosively built up. Thankfully this time, it didn't last as the skies opened up, and enormous elephant-sized pieces of hail started to fall toward the ocean. It caused the crew to launch into action to keep the ship safe, especially the vulnerable sail. Rayleigh, already knocking aside the larger of the pieces, noted the location of their youngest members and discovered Buggy covering and Shanks laughing in pleasure as chaos reigned.

Rayleigh heaved a sigh; the boys were entirely too different. Buggy was the type to panic when something went wrong. While Shanks found it more and more amusing the worse things seemed to go.

"They liven the ship up," Roger told him, reading his thoughts as he leaned on the helm, sending them away from the storm as Rouge casually knocked aside a chunk of ice, getting a touch too close to her. "I know you, Rayleigh, you'd be bored out of your mind if you didn't get to toss them around each day."

Rayleigh didn't answer that, even if it were true.

"Oh look." Rouge leaned over the railing with a squeal: "a starlight shower!" they glanced to the port side and watched as the sky cleared. In the distance, the falling hail glittered like shooting stars in the dark. The pieces fell to the ocean splashing into the water, making it look as though the sea itself had become the night sky. Rouge watched in pleased awe all the while Roger watched her.

Rayleigh excused himself quickly after taking in the view. He knew what would come next with the affectionate pair, and he had no need to see his captain like that a third time.

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

Then again, perhaps the obnoxious displays of affection would be better than the two brats and their arguing.

* * *

Hermione collapsed into bed, and Holly lifted her gaze from her homework to peer at her friend. Her soulmate sang in her head as she did, a random jaunty in his language that sounded new to her, he was likely only just learning it. Personally, Holly was a bit surprised that what he sang came across relatively clear to her. She was learning his language and quick, hopefully, she'd be fluent one day soon.

Setting aside her homework Holly tossed her legs over the side of the bed. Briefly, she caught a glimpse of Hermione's new necklace and mentally patted herself on the back, she'd figured it out. Striding toward Hermione's bed, Holly dropped onto the end and casually leaned back till she was on top of Hermione's legs.

"Soooo." She drawled, "how told you not to tell us about the time-turner?"

Hermione shrieked launching off the bed, she kicked Holly in the shoulder as she scrambled back and frantically flipped over: "who told you!" she rushed to say.

"No one." Holly confessed, "Ron and I guessed after you were in both our classes at the same time. McGonagall gave it to you, right?" Holly reached forward, and Hermione allowed her to hook her fingers under the golden chain to pull it from her shirt. Holly took a moment to inspect the small time-piece that had literal time-traveling powers. "Never give this back."

"Holly!" Hermione snatched it back and swatted her hand; "it's not to be abused! Terrible things happen to those that travel in time!"

"Terrible things happen to people even when they don't." Holly pointed out shrewdly. "And… Voldemort is kind of running around as a shade right now, it's only a matter of time until he shows up again." Holly wasn't stupid, she knew Voldemort was a wraith, and she'd done plenty of research on them. Dumbledore might be trying to let her have a 'childhood,' but Holly knew it wouldn't last; besides, thanks to the Dursley's, she hadn't had a childhood in the first place. "So, if we have this… maybe we can change the future?"

Hermione gaped: "That's… that's not its intended use!"

Holly didn't look at her as she added: "and also, you should use it to get some sleep. Your bags have bags right now." Holly might blame the Weasley's a bit or her pirate of a soulmate, but the rules were really beginning to not matter to her anymore. It wasn't like they'd done anything for her in the first place. The rules and laws hadn't gotten her away from the Dursley's,

"Holly, I can't!"

Holly made a face returning to leaning against Hermione's legs before she confessed the truth: "Ron and I are worried Hermione, at this rate, you'll be sent to the hospital." She tilted her head, "but if you really can't use it to sleep, maybe you should drop a few courses? Do you really need Muggle studies?"

"I DO!"

"Then…" Holly shrugged helplessly.

"But… I can't… I'm not allowed… I…"

Holly huffed an annoyed breath when she felt the bed dip and glanced to the side. Padfoot had returned. Her dog tilted his head at the chain in Hermione's hands, chuffed at them, then dropped into the blankets with little care. Holly frowned at his paws, which were covered in some unknown potion and pressed her lips together. She really was beginning to suspect- a bang and twin groans sounded nearby, and the girls jumped slightly when she heard a pair of familiar voices frantically yelling.

"We're innocent! I swear it!"

Holly rolled her eyes, once again the twins pranked someone and were faking innocence. It had been happening all year. Holly dismissed them as McGonagall's voice pitched in fury and refocused on Hermione, who definitely needed sleep. Now, if only she could convince her friend to abuse the power she'd been given.


	7. Storm Warning

Moony was forced behind that man's mind, trapped immobile in his own body. The wizard, that pathetic being, was poisoning them both to keep his control. It hurt. Both of them were in agony as wolfs-bane spread through their system, one dose at a time. Wolf's only appreciation for this act was that the wizard suffered just as much.

Moony reached for control pulling on the powers of the moon. His claws scraped across the ground, and her scent filled his nose. Internally he screamed a howl that shook the wizard's mind; he cried a song of longing, protection, and grief.

_**MINE. PACK. GO TO HER.**_

Moony knew this was a pointless act, the wizard had never listened before and wouldn't now even if her scent was that close. Even if they'd both seen her within their new den. The cub walked the halls clueless of who they were, wandered alone, pack-less but for the two cubs at her side. No mate guarded her, no alpha watched over her. It should have been them to raise her. Them to teach her how to hunt and survive.

The wizard was a fool.

_NO. Not safe._

The wizard kept them away, wrestling away the control Moony gained and forced them still. But now the wizard had taken it a step too far, he had trapped Moony within his own body as the moon sang her call. The wizard had poisoned them to prevent Moony from approaching their cub.

Moony recalled the nights after his pack's death. The first moon he'd had control and had awoken in the wilderness. It took a mere moment for him to realize what happened to Prongs and his mate. They were dead, their pack bonds ripped away, leaving him screaming his sorrows to the moon that gave him life. He was alone, alone without a pack, without a soul to wander with, in the forests. But perhaps not. Moony knew the scent of the cub, could still feel her presence in his core.

The cub, Holly, was alive and in need of protection.

Moony had tried to reach her that night, sprinting heedless of his own body demands toward her. He ran until his paws bled and he foamed at the mouth from the sheer exhaustion of it. Moony knew his time-limit; he could always sense the moon power and knew when it would pull its strength from him, returning control to the man.

He reached her just as the sky crested with light. He approached on four bloodied paws and scented her within the temporary den she had been placed in. Then, by force, he relinquished his control, having faith the wizard would claim her. She was pack, she was their cub, she was theirs to raise and protect.

But the wizard did not claim her. He fled the home, leaving no sign but a set of bloodied paw prints that he had ever been around Holly Lily Potter. Moony, aggravated and confused, tried again for the next moon. But once again, the wizard did not approach.

The third moon after Moony woke chained to the floor in a basement that scented like fear and hatred. Moony nearly killed himself trying to escape, to find and reach his cub. At that moment, he cursed the wizard for daring to deny him this, swore he would get free, and reach his cub.

By the fourth moon, Moony knew the wizard would never allow him to have his cub. The man would continue to live on pack-less heedless of what it was doing to their mind and magic. And Moony would continue to be chained. The wizard betrayed the pack, and Moony ensured he was punished for that injustice. Moony, as he woke every moon chained down, rent his claws through his own body. He would show the world that the wizard was a traitor. He punished the man, clawed into his skin, and he howled at the wizard, never giving him a moment's rest.

The wizard, Remus Lupin, was a traitor to the pack and to themselves.

Now, years later, Moony was more trapped than even with his cub so very close. Furiously, Moony snarled, claws ripping at his wrists. The cub was in reach, he could scent her in the air, and yet he could not reach her.

Moony would not let the man rest, never. Poison or not, this was his body, his night, and he'd regain control by any means necessary.

Hours later, Remus lifted his battered body up on weakened arms. Blood coated the floor where the monster inside him attacked itself when he'd gotten too weak to keep control. Weakly Remus lifted his wand and summoned a Protronus to call Poppy. He needed help and realized quickly that he could not reach the infirmary under his own power.

Remus realized it quickly, the wolf was still too strong under the full moon's draw. He would have to speak to Severus about strengthen the wolfs-bane to push it farther back. It would kill him faster, but Remus would finally be safe to be around the children and her. It would be better for Holly and the other children if he, and by extension the wolf was weaker.

Holly…

Remus closed his eyes shoving the wolf back as it growled furiously in his mind. It was ever demanding he go claim their cub. The wolf didn't understand the little nuances of being human. The wolf didn't know what would happen to him or Holly if he let it truly loose.

A traitorous part of his mind corrected that statement, one that screamed that the wolf was safer than Holly's pet.

Remus had realized it in an instant. No matter how much his wolf weakened him the night before, no matter much how it howled enraged at the presence of the dementors. No matter how firmly it shoved at his consciousness when Remus finally saw her after all those years. Remus had been focused enough to notice after he saw it with her.

The dog had been unconscious at Holly's side. Its head had been in her lap, and it' body laid out between the door, where the dementor had been, and Holly. The breed, the size, the name had been unmistakable. Sirius Black had reached the cub but hadn't... hadn't hurt her. Remus couldn't fathom it, not even after gentle inquires that led him to learn Sirius had been at her side for a month without hurting her.

The children were clearly clueless about his true identity, and the nickname had been a coincidence. Remus honestly started to convince himself he was wrong; the dog was just an unfortunately named Muggle mutt. But then the pranking began.

Remus grew up with Sirius, he knew his former friend's methods, and the unknown prankster matched the man far too well. Severus, the victim of many of those pranks, also recognized the technique. Severus was, as a result, actively trying to convince Dumbledore every staff meeting that Black was near. No one believed him, not without a sighting. No one but Remus that was, he, however, was firmly seated in denial.

The truth of it was, Remus couldn't handle the idea that Sirius and the dog were one and the same. His mind would crack if Sirius indeed was innocent and had suffered twelve years in Azkaban for nothing! So Remus pretended the dog was just a dog, and the prankster was just some bright student.

He brutally ignored the wolf that insisted the dog, and Sirius scented the same. Just as the wolf told him that Peter's pack bond never broke so he could be alive.

He ignored it. Threw his head in the sand, stuck his hands in his ears, and denied it. Sirius was not innocent. He was not. And Holly, she would be better without him and the wolf.

Please let it be a trick of the mind.

* * *

"I don't think my memory is happy enough," Ron admitted scratching his chin in thought. So far, he'd managed to get a wisp of silver but nothing fully formed; none of them yet, in fact.

In an empty classroom on the third floor, a small group was practicing the Patronus charm. The group included the four younger Weasley's, Hermione, and Holly. Hermione had transfigured a fake dementor, which was really a mannequin with a sheet over it, for help with their spell. Otherwise, books on the subject littered the floor, some bought by Owl-order, others borrowed from friends, or from the library.

They had been at it for several weeks and by that point several hours for that one day. Currently, only the twins, Ron, and Holly had managed wisps, while Ginny and Hermione hadn't gotten even that.

"Which one are you using?" Ginny asked cross-logged on the floor with a book in her lap.

Blushing slightly, Ron mumbled something and looked away, causing them all to give him a considering look.

"Ronnie-kins… what-cha thinking about?" George's expression took on a foxy look as he nudged Fred, both ready to tease.

"The first time I heard my soulmate's voice." He rushed to say before they got too bad with the teasing or started to come up with other reasons as to why he was blushing. Like the first time, he- ahem, never mind.

"That won't work." Hermione spoke up, "the witch Malia Armitage suggested memories associated with soulmates would backfire when it comes to a dementor since they pull at your soul. She suggests using a memory associated with the soul would put them in danger."

"There's no proof of that, it's just a theory." Holly said from the window. She was staring out at the forest at the dementors she could see occasionally appeared at the boundary to the school. The sight of their forms made her skin crawl, but it helped her focus on her spell and the reason they were learning it. The Dementors were unnaturally obsessed with her, and Holly did not want her soulmate suffering through the unknown of their attacks any longer.

"It might be," Hermione responded, "so I've been attempt to use a memory from my childhood, rather than one associated with my soulmate."

"Oh yeah, and how's that working for you 'Mione?" Ron eyed Hermione's wand where nothing had happened the entire time they'd been working. The girl hadn't even gotten a wisp like Ron had. Hermione naturally had nothing to say to that and turned with a huff back to her attempts.

Holly left them too it as she sank her hands into Padfoot's fur. The theory could be right, or it could be harmful to their attempts. Holly's best memories were associated with singing and him, so… perhaps she ought to try it. To think of him and what he meant to her. To focus on the feeling of anticipation of the moment they'd finally meet. She could picture it vaguely, his face was nothing but a shadow in her mind, but his voice was as clear as day with how often she'd heard it. Holly would go running into his arms, and he'd lift her up, spinning her in excitement… he'd be taller than her, of course, so she'd be lifted clear off her feet. With utter joy, he'd beg for her name, and he'd whisper it in a husky tone before leaning forward and pressing their lips together for the very first time.

Holly's eyes snapped open, and she twisted on the spot: "Expecto Protronum!"

Silver exploded from her wand, four clawed paws touched the ground, and a little body shook as if amused. Twisting a small head around, it glanced at her with a broad smile and inclined its head.

"Wow!"

"Holly, how'd you do it?!"

"A hyena?" Fred spoke up. They all rushed over, admiring the animal in the room, "you must have a great sense of humor, Hols."

Holly released the spell as she felt a fierce drain on her magic, and the silvery animal vanished with a shaking inaudible laugh. She gasped a bit, admitting to herself that there was a reason so few people could cast that spell. It was incredibly taxing on her magic. Still, Holly couldn't stop herself from smiling. She'd done it.

"I just thought about my soulmate, about meeting them one day and what I'd feel then," she shrugged a little, "and it just sort of worked."

"Brilliant, I'm going to try it," George announced, he and Fred rushed back to their corners to rethink the memories they wanted to use. Hermione wasn't terribly impressed, but progress was progress, and Holly had gotten the spell to work first, so she was willing to try it. Ron clapped her on the shoulder and gave her a thumbs-up before trying the spell himself again. While Ginny started to loudly theorize why she'd gotten a hyena of all things. Most theories suggested Patronus took the form of what you found safe or what you loved. So why did Holly get a hyena?

Taking a short break herself, Holly glanced back out the window as Padfoot placed his head against her leg. He looked almost proud of her if dogs could look proud, and Holly gave him a little grin. She'd done it. Now she could protect herself and her soulmate the next time the damned things attacked her.

Little did she know Sirius was proud. If he'd been human, he would have been glowing with it. His pup had performed the Patronus charm at thirteen, a full corporal Patronus at an unheard-of age. She was so gifted! Merlin, he wished he could brag… unfortunately, he had no one to brag too.

* * *

In the end, Holly was the only one to get a full Patronus, though the twins had come close. Holly suspected this was less because of the memories used and more because of the cost of magic it took to bring forth a full animal. The group was still going to try though. As Hermione said, a wisp was better than nothing Ginny cited.

Otherwise, the school year continued on despite the dementor presence. Several students got too close to the forest during April and had nearly lost their souls. The fall out had been intense and coupled with a lack of Sirius Black sightings, caused massive outrage among the parents. Hermione believed it would only be a matter of time before Fudge caved to the pressures, and the dementors were removed from the picture. It was something the entire school population was looking forward to.

On the other hand, the school remained rather cheerful due to the actions of a rather proactive prankster. An 'epic' prank occurred every Friday against Severus Snape and Remus Lupin like clockwork, which had both professors absolutely twitchy and jumping at nothing. Holly suspected one Friday nothing would actually happen, and the pair would be jumpy and paranoid the whole day. Otherwise, a multitude of small pranks seemed to plague the general populace throughout the rest of the week. For example, one afternoon, the entire school ended up with randomized hair colors. The next afternoon four notorious bullies in Slytherin were strung up with fake boobs in the Great hall. The Slytherins had no idea how it occurred or who did it, and yet they vowed revenge. However, with no culprit, the students' victims, including a rather odd Ravenclaw and a pair of eleven-year-old Slytherins, had no one to thank.

In April, Professor Lupin discovered a bogart in one of the empty classrooms and 'borrowed it' for a lesson on the creatures. Having already learned about the monsters and the charm used to defeat them, most of the class was excited to practice the riddikulus spell for real.

Most of the class that was.

They stood in a huge line, Slytherin's and Gryffindor's mixed up as they took turns one by one to face the boggart. So far, the most hilarious of the boggart transformations had been professor Snape in Neville's grandmother's clothing, which would be the talk of the school for weeks. It was prank level, yet not from their resident prankster, who most believed had to be a first-year. Hermione's boggart ended up being professor Mcgonegall, who ended up acting like a cat in her human form as a nod to Hermione's pet Crookshanks and the woman's animegus form.

Following Hermione, Ron stepped up, and the boggart revealed an enormous spider for his worst fear. With a flick of his wrist and a determined voice, Ron put roller-skates on the thing, and it tripped up, causing a new rush of laughter from the class. Grinning, Ron stepped aside, and Pansy, who happened to be lined up behind him, stepped forward.

She and Ron were officially divination partners by then, and neither of the appreciated it. Holly and Hermione had heard about their bickering ever since Hermione dropped the class. Ironically, however, their partnership resulted in a massive boost in grades for both Pansy and Ron. Despite their fights, they worked very well together in class, and it was a growing source of debate for the rest of the class.

Pansy shot Ron a glare as she stepped up, and he scowled at her making a face. As they did, Holly leaned over to Hermione and whispered. "I swear they actually like each other in secret, this has to be a show."

"I'm convinced Ron, and she will be dating by next year, the real question is when he tells us about it."

Holly huffed, "it's not like we'll judge him, it's not like it's Malfoy."

"She is a Slytherin though, maybe he thinks we won't approve."

"Maybe."

They shut up as Ron joined them, and the boggart facing Pansy settled on a form of a pair of people. A woman who had Pansy's hair and a man with a furious glare on his face. After a second, the man snarling stormed toward Pansy aggressively. Pansy, clearly afraid, automatically stepped backward, bumping in Daphne Greengrass, who stood behind her. As the man opened his mouth, he spat at Pansy.

"A blood-traitor, how dare you sully our family-" Pansy flinched back as several things happened at once. Ron made an aborted step forward almost protectively. While Pansy lifted her wand to do something, anything. She was frozen there as the man loomed over her, trapped in place until Daphne Greengrass snatched hold of Pansy's robes and dragged the girl behind her. Whoever the man was, a man whom the Slytherin's all recognized, paused then his form twisted away.

Their professor then seemed to realize he ought to have interrupted, his delayed reaction angering a large amount of the class. Holly gave Lupin the benefit of the doubt purely because he looked like he was about to sick up, he was so pale. Thankfully for him, Daphne was more than equipped to handle her own worst fear.

The man transformed into an enormous Snake, and Daphne only paled slightly before her wand spun, and it tangled like a pretzel and found itself trapped. As it struggled, several students laughed, Daphne shot a look backward. The expression on her face wasn't overly clear to most, but Holly read it in an instant. Pansy was still shaking, and the girl needed a friend, Daphne wanted someone to take over the boggart so she could get Pansy away.

Holly was one of few to read the intentions on Daphne's face, and closest. She stepped forward, passing Pansy without a word and took Daphne's spot in the front dragging the boggarts attention from Daphne to her.

"Thanks Potter," Daphne said under her breath as she took Pansy's arm and dragged her to the back of the classroom to calm down. Holly didn't respond as she stared the boggart down. It focused on her and its form twisted. Concentrated on what could be her worst fear, she missed Ron following Daphne and Pansy with his eyes, worry evident across his face. Holly dared not look back as the boggart settled on a familiar form.

It was her.

Holly's stood mirrored as her other self opened her mouth and nothing came out. Her mirror was mute. Holly's breath came out in a rush, she should have expected it. She had theorized a dozen different possibilities, including a dementor and Voldemort. But she never expected- she should have-

She lifted her wand mind blank at how to make herself amusing when their professor appeared, placing himself between her and the boggart. Holly exhaled deeply as the boggart twisted once more taking herself away and replacing it with a… potion vial? No, it changed immediately after to a white orb floating in the sky. Lupin lifted his wand and flicked it, causing the globe to transform into a balloon that popped and went flying back into the cupboard.

Left stunned Holly glanced up at her teacher who turned to look at her, she was left reeling as his eyes, typically brown, caught hers. His eyes had changed to the shade of molten gold, Professor Lupin opened his mouth to address the class, and Holly caught a glimpse of fang. Then he abruptly shut up, flinched, and his eyes returned to normal.

"That's enough for today." He forced through his lips and darted backward slightly as if he were afraid to be close to her. As he did, his hands gripped together shaking as if he were terrified of his own shadow. Yet, he smiled. "Early release today, go have fun." And attempted to shoo them from the class.

The class didn't wait, Daphne rushed Pansy out, and Hermione grabbed Holly to do the same.

The intent on her face, the moment they were away from Lupin and his class, Hermione rounded on Holly and Ron both. A sudden clarity in her eyes as she announced the truth. "I think… I think Professor Lupin is a werewolf!" giving them a brand new reason to suspect Remus Lupin.

* * *

Daphne Greengrass had no intention of taking advantage of the situation, but others would. The Gryffindor's might not realize what had happened, Daphne believed few would come to the correct guess, but the Slytherin's would. So Daphne waited until Pansy finally stopped shaking to say it.

"Which one is it?"

Pansy flinched, arms around her knees she lifted her face and stared at Daphne through her hair, but she didn't speak.

Daphne continued unperturbed by this. "Your boggart was the Dark Lord a year ago." Daphne knew that for a fact, she had been visiting Pansy's side when they'd happened upon a boggart in the Greengrass family home. Somehow it had gotten into the house during the holiday's and her sickly grandfather hadn't cleaned enough to have noticed it. He had come running when she and Pansy had freaked at the red-eyed visage they'd heard about only in stories. Daphne would not soon forget the way her grandfather collapsed to the ground and begged for mercy before realizing what had happened.

"It's your father now, Pansy… explain."

Many would assume Pansy's fear, having recognized her father for who he was, came from the same reason as many other Slytherins. They'd believe that Pansy's father was violent. Daphne would say the man was, but he always had been, and whatever made Pansy fear the man was more recent. Not to mention the words he'd said…

"You found your soulmate… didn't you?"

It should have been something that caused Pansy to run to Daphne in joy. Something that would have had them both cheering over, something to be proud of, something amazing. But Daphne knew such things weren't so simple in a pure-blood family. Not for Daphne who's father was planning her betrothal already as he spoke with Lucius Malfoy. Not for Theodore, whose soulmate was decided male and incapable of carrying the family line. Not for Blaise, who had found his in a step-sister as his mother plotted her new husband's death. And not for Pansy who very likely had-

"Swear you won't tell." Pansy lifted her gaze furiously. A true witch's power in her eyes as they glowed with accidental magic. Her emotions bled through revealing the power of her core, not many of the current pure-blood generation had a power like that. And none had glowed with the power Potter's had when the dementor attacked them.

"I swear not to use it against it unless our friendship should shatter," Daphne swore instead. Pansy accepted it well enough, for all that they'd been trained not to, they trusted each other. They were friends, as many believed Slytherin's couldn't be with all the propaganda against them.

"It's…" Pansy swallowed the name. She suspected it, she was reasonably convinced she knew her guess was right but… she hadn't spoken about it. Not outside the safety of her own thoughts. Still, she trusted Daphne and maybe her friend could help fix this. "Weasley."

"…" Daphne tilted her head, "Which one?"

Pansy choked and gave a soft moan as she dropped her head backward. "Ron, obviously! Do you think those blasted twins or the girl would be my match? Honestly!"

"Well." Daphne hedged slightly, "it's not like I know anything about Ronald Weasley either… do you?"

Pansy stretched out her body as she relaxed. Daphne wasn't going to judge her for something she couldn't exactly help, not like her parents would. "Not really." She wiggled her toes in her shoes to distract herself, "beyond the obvious obnoxious way he eats." Her nose scrunched, "and… well, he's decent at divination, not a bad partner even if his personality leaves much to be desired."

"He's loyal." Daphne mused thinking on what she did know. As she spoke this, she watched Pansy's reaction to see how bad it was. "He sticks with Potter like a guard dog, not to mention brave-"

"He's a Gryffindor." Pansy scoffed, and Daphne quickly corrected her.

"One that put himself between us, Granger, and Potter and a dementor. That's not the average Gryffindor bravery, that's knight in shining armor level."

Pansy's cheeks flamed, and Daphne internally cringed. She was right, but she was hoping Pansy wouldn't react. There was a reason Pansy was scared of her father, and it would be easier for everyone involved if she didn't have feelings for Weasley. "Are you sure he's your soulmate? Have you sang to each other?"

"Obviously not." Pansy's eyes hit the roof before returning to Daphne, "we can barely stand being in the same room as each other, let alone long enough to sing."

"Then how do you know?"

"Because I heard him." Pansy deflated quickly as she thought on the moment it happened, "he was with Granger and Potter in the hallways. Remember that night when I was behind curfew, and Snape almost caught me?" Daphne nodded, "it was because I was hiding from them. I heard them singing this song… I'd never heard it before, it… it's probably one of the dozens of Muggle languages. Still… the words, they echoed in my head at the same time they were singing."

"So you're sure… hell, Pansy, what are you going to do?"

"Ignore it?" Pansy shrugged helplessly, "it's not like I'll be allowed to marry him. My father… he'll kill Weasley if he finds out, he killed mother's soulmate so it wouldn't be a shock."

"Pansy…" Daphne gazed at her soulmate in sorrow. One more Slytherin, one more of their year who'd never be with their true match. Just like she wouldn't… "Screw that."

"What?!" Pansy gasped at the sudden Muggle phrase coming from Daphne's lips.

"I said screw that!" she reiterated, "Weasley is your soulmate, and your father is a bloody cruel monster. Why should you deny true love just because he might find out? No! No, we're not going to do that. You hear me! You and I are going to come up with a plan so you and Weasley are together. And… and we'll make one for Blaise too! Bloody Black's already marry their cousins, he can damned well marry his sister!" Daphne stood up as she spoke, her posture turning aggressive and her magic churning dangerously as she firmed up her choice.

She was not going to be like the generation before her. Clearly, they fucked up with the arranged marriages, after all, most of the previous generation was dead or imprisoned. That wasn't going to be her!

"You don't even know if I want to be with him!" Pansy argued her single point, and Daphne ruthlessly ignored it.

"Weasley doesn't know you're his soulmate, so we'll just keep him clueless. Instead, you don't sing around him, and you get to know him. That was you can discover if you want to marry him and how much we have to risk to ensure it." Daphne nodded to herself firmly, "Right, come on. We have to plan your next Divination class. You're going to seduce Weasley by the end of next year at the latest!"

"Daphne!"

"Chop chop, Pansy! We have a twelve-step plan to complete!"

* * *

The year had been too normal. The year previous had basilisk attacks and Voldemort in a diary, and the year before that was Quirrel-mort. Now this year, there were dementors but no actual attack on her person otherwise. She didn't like it and was growing more paranoid as the year went on. Honestly, she was expecting Black to come popping out of the woodworks any second now to murder her.

Holly sat in an alcove writing carefully in her journal as she attempted to translate her soulmate's latest song into English. She was getting faster and faster at doing it as she learned more words and used the language more fluently. Soon she, and Hermione would both be completely fluent in the language Holly was referring to as 'Soul-lish.'

_"Oh, as I went home on Monday night, as drunk as drunk could be."_ She laughed slightly at the lyrics knowing her soulmate was trying to cheer her up with the playful song. He was incredibly good at telling when she was in a mood.

_"I saw a horse outside the door, where my old horse should be"_

She laughed slightly and wrote the lyrics down to sing back to him after he was don; that way, he could correct her 'soul-lish' accent. Before she sang the translation and corrected him in return. Though he was picking up English far faster than she was picking up 'soul-lish.' Honestly, it was like he was being helped, which would not be fair.

_"Well, I called me wife and I said to her, 'will you kindly tell to me.; who owns that horse outside the door, where my old horse should be?'"_

Holly snickered as his voice slurred dramatically, he was pretending to be drunk while singing. Or was he drunk? He could be, it wasn't like she could see him and tell. Regardless Holly picked up the next line as they ran through the song. All the while, she thought about the next song she should translate for him. As she did, she heard a laugh in his voice and allowed a fond expression to escaped her. He was always checking on her through song, especially now that they could speak the same language. He had dozens of different songs to regale her with, ones that started her morning by wishing her a good one. Endless songs about the sea, love, and pirates. He had songs that expressed a desire to learn how her day was. And he songs that gave her a hint into his own.

If she sang about a lousy day using a song literally titled 'bad day,' he'd return with dozens of pleasant ones to turn her mood. He'd even picked up her 'bad day' song and sang it if he had one, and she'd return the favor, sometimes just singing nonsense to help in whatever way she could.

The truth was, she was entirely in love with him already, but she was terrified at what would happen if she told him that. Don't get her wrong, Holly wanted to but… but she wanted to say that in person.

Love put through song was common, very common, but… somehow it didn't feel right for her.

Holly sighed and flipped her page as her soulmate stopped the cheery song, sensing from her tone that the one he was singing was no long cheering her up. Holly wished she could apologize. Holly appreciated it, but… while nothing had gone wrong with her day, she was in a mood.

A world away Shanks frowned. His soulmate had been a bit tense lately, to the point it came out in her voice. He didn't know what seemed to be bothering her, but he suspected it was the time of the year. Soon it would be the summer season in the East Blue, and that matched the period where her voice nearly ceased all singing entirely. This phase had occurred twice in the past two years, and Shanks had taken note of it. He just hoped it was temporary had it had been in the past.

"Gonna wish I had a storm warning~!"

Shanks paused, listening to the deep voice singing nearby and perked. A new song. Eagerly he sped through the crowds on the island as the lyrics hit his ears, and he grinned wider. This would be an excellent song to sing to his soulmate. The song continued until he found the performer encircled by a large crowd. From what Roger had been able to tell the island they'd docked at was amid their monthly sing-along, but they seemed to take it a bit more seriously.

The entire island was having a party. Everyone celebrating and huge sales going on for the day. Performers were on the streets, and a huge area near the coast had been cleared for the sing-along. When night fell, everyone on the island would go to the beaches and raise their voices in one single song designed for the island about the island. Shanks had already accepted a lyrics sheet so he could learn the words and sing along when the time came. He had already memorized just in case it helped now that he could and would translate when the time came.

Maybe this time, he would sing the location to her in her language, and she'd get a real idea of where he was and that he was looking for her.

"I'm gonna wish I had a sign~" sang the performer, and Shanks snorted. He knew that feeling.

Idly Shanks glanced around as the singer continued looking for someone from the crew. Rayleigh had emphasized the need to be aware of who was around them at all times, a by-product of their observation haki training. The first-mate had also suggested he might be attacking Shanks at random while they were docked as part of their training. While also implying Roger would be doing the same, but Shanks doubted that. Mostly because Roger and Rouge had taken off the second they could 'like a pair of giggling teenagers,' to quote Rayleigh. Shanks wasn't so naive anymore to not realize what they were going to do while docked, though he was avoiding thinking about it.

In the distance, he spotted a flash of blue and focused on it with a smirk. Only one person he knew had hair that shade, Buggy. A mischievous look crossed his face, and Shanks moved to follow his friend.

Back in Hogwarts, Holly jerked as someone spoke her name in a raspy unused voice. She lifted her attention from her journal as she was pulled from her melancholy thoughts to find Professor Lupin standing several feet away. Merlin, Holly hadn't even heard him enter the hallway. She didn't know he could walk that softly.

"Professor?" she answered, almost wary.

"You don't need to fear cub." He answered, and paranoia rushed upwards. It had been too quiet after all.

"I'm sorry?" she put her journal down, and subtly grabbed her wand. But Lupin did not approach. Instead, he stared at her with molten gold eyes.

"No." He rasped out, "I am the one who is sorry, cub." He still didn't step forward, and Holly slowly slid to a standing position to equalize them slightly out of instinct.

"Why?"

His head ducked slightly, and it was distinctly canine about it. He didn't bare his throat or anything, but the meek posture was apologetic. Lupin stood like he was trying to make himself smaller, and it was honestly calming.

"Because I failed you cub… I should have been there for you, I should have claimed you, and I didn't."

"What do… do you mean?" Holly lowered her wand slightly.

"May I approach?"

Holly eyed Lupin cautiously, at the liquid gold eyes and the awareness that he was a werewolf. Hermione and Ron had given her plenty of horror stories, but Holly was trying to reserve judgment. She didn't really care that he was furry once a month, but rather that he was eerily focused on Padfoot. Still, Holly was Gryffindor enough and curious enough to allow him near, even with gold canine eyes.

"Okay."

Lupin shifted moving much faster than Holly believed he could and suddenly dropped to a knee before her. Holly gaped, staring downward as he tilted his head up to look at her and began to speak.

"I… was friends with your parents."

And shook the foundations of her world.

* * *

Shanks rounded the corner that Buggy had wandered into and peered into a darkened alley. Instantly Shanks stopped and lifted his guard as he cast a wary eye into the darkness. He'd seen the darker parts of the world, and even if he could still hear the loud music of the festival, the alley was an eerie reminder that crueler things lingered in the world.

The memory of a bloodied body, shaking hands, and his stomach rebelling nearly caused Shanks to retreat.

He couldn't see the end of the alley that Buggy had vanished into the darkness. An eerie level of it. It shouldn't have been so dark; the sun was still up for the gods' sake. Shanks flicked his eyes back toward the public street only temporarily thinking that he should leave Buggy to himself. The other teenager had been trained just like Shanks, he knew better than to get himself into too much danger. He probably didn't need Shanks to come running after him.

Probably.

He should just go back to the main road. Buggy was fine-

"Hey don't!-"

Shanks snapped back to the street as someone - Buggy - gave an aborted scream. His feet carried him forward faster than his mind could think, and Shanks rushed into the darkness. Several steps in, he found a large clearing, an empty area surrounded by taller buildings on all sides. It was shadowed from the sun, a clear meeting place for those who didn't want to be seen. At the entrance hidden by darkness, Shanks stood as he took in the scene before him.

Buggy was on his knees, hands at his stomach from a blow that Shanks hadn't seen. He was surrounded by men full-grown and a violent looking woman; she was the very image of gorgeous but cruel. Sneering, she stared down at Buggy, who looked as if she'd stepped on his heart.

"But I thought…" Buggy choked out as he lifted his head. The woman, in response, gave a loud, cruel laugh that the men echoed.

"Moron, as if I'm truly your match." She brushed her hair back with long nails, "I just made you think that so you'd follow me. Amazing what people will believe when you look like I do and say the right things." She batted her eyelashes, so she looked as innocent and helpless as possible.

Shanks instantly realized what happened. The woman must have pretended to hear Buggy's voice in her head, she'd tricked him into thinking he was her soulmate before leading him into this place. Into this situation. Shanks' heart hurt for Buggy at the moment, many had fallen for such tricks, and Shanks was unsure if he would have realized the truth of not. Deep down, Shanks decided then that he'd test his soulmate with her language, which no other knew before he trusted her. That decision, however, did not help him or Buggy at this moment.

"Fuck you!" Buggy spat trying to stand. Her foot lifted and cracked into his chin before he could, and Shanks watched as Buggy's eyes rolled back, and he fell unconscious while the woman laughed.

Alarmed, Shanks rushed forward, going for the sword at his waist. He had no idea what these people intended to do, but he wasn't going to let them hurt his Nakama any further.

"Get away from him!" he yelled furiously. Shanks rushed forward striking out at the woman who darted back and out of range. In a moment, he stood over Buggy's body, brandishing his sword protectively between himself, Buggy, and the enemy, who quickly surrounded him.

"Who are you?" asked one of the men pulling a gun from his side to aim it between Shanks' eyes.

"His friend." Shanks answered, trying not to fear his nervousness show. They greatly outnumbered him. He'd have to take great care if he wanted to get himself and Buggy out of this situation safely. But it didn't help that his friend was unconscious now and unable to help.

The woman scoffed to his answer, deciding on a whim upon seeing the flaming red shade of his hair: "bring him to." She stated.

Swords were drawn, guns pointed, and Shanks struck out at the first man that charged him. He cut the man down and turned on his heels to take the second out from behind him. Shanks told himself it was just like any other training session. He could handle this.

He lept into the air as a man went for his legs and kicked out in the same motion. A third man cried out as Shanks' swung out. His armament haki crawled up his sword as he focused entirely on the battle. So far, he couldn't get haki to work every time he fought, but with enough concentration, he had it working then.

Parry, dodge, turn. Shanks flowed like Rayleigh had taught him to. Twisting under a sword and- his eyes flew wide as one of the men he hadn't noticed decided not to attack Shanks. Instead, the man aimed his gun as Buggy's head.

"Stop, or he's dead." Was the rather simple order.

He froze, reacting far quicker than his attacks had. Then men didn't adjust to his sudden stillness. They didn't stop their attacks, and a sword brutally stabbed into his side.

Shanks cried out, automatically reaching for it. His palm met the blade, and he grabbed it fast before it could be pulled from his body. Rouge had drilled the information into him; he'd bled far more if whatever stabbed him was yanked out.

He shot a look down, shocked. He'd been stabbed, he'd been-

"Morons! Now we have to pay for a doctor!" cried a woman voice, but Shanks couldn't look away from the blood. He'd been beaten plenty of times but never stabbed- had it hit something vital? What- what did he do-

Shanks looked up at the man who had stabbed him and bared his teeth. The bastard would pay for that!

"Knock him out."

The blow struck with no warning, and Shanks' word went dark.

* * *

Holly sat heavily beside Remus Lupin as he altered her perceptions of the world.

"When I saw that boggart… I- the wolf was furious… he could smell your fear, and he wanted to rip apart the world to protect you from all dangers." Remus swallowed as he stared away from her like he couldn't bare to look at her and see her reaction to his words, to his cowardice laid bare. "And I realized that he never intended to harm you… I cannot believe I never realized that."

Remus looked somewhere past her shoulder as he explained. "The full moon after your parents died, I was in the forest. It was the middle of nowhere, a safe place Lily found. She calculated that at a regular speed, a werewolf couldn't find civilization in any direction before the sun came up. It allowed me to transform safely while allowing my wolf to run free."

Holly nodded along even if he wasn't looking at her. That made sense; if she were a werewolf, that would be something she'd do. Remus continued: "that night, I apparated there in my grief and when I woke up… I was in the middle of Little Wingwing right outside your aunt's home… there were bloodied paw prints on the ground below me, and your scent was in my nose." His hands wrung together, "I thought… I thought the wolf intended to kill you and had run out of time before the sun rose."

"Why?" He jerked sharply in confusion, and Holly elaborated, still trying to catch his eyes, "why would you think that?"

"I was starving, and his lingering emotions was desperation… and anger."

Holly hummed but didn't argue that point. She instead thought the wolf had been trying to reach his 'pack' instead of gunning for her life. But this was Remus' story.

"I fled, terrified that it wanted to hurt you. It was worse when the next moon I woke by your house again… after that, I locked myself up." He gestured to his scars, "and I punished myself for that."

"So, you avoided me to keep me safe?"

"Yes." He cast a relieved look at Holly hopeful that she'd caught onto his intentions. However, the expression on her face was neutral, she gave none of her internal thoughts away. She didn't speak the fact that she would have been a hundred times better off around a werewolf than the Dursley's. Or that she was quietly furious at Remus for not taking her from that. The fury fought in her chest against the relief that Remus was family.

She might not have had him before, but she had him now. Hopefully she could trust him with the secret of where she was living during the summer.

"But when I felt the wolf's fear when the boggart stood before you…" Remus closed his eyes painfully, and she leaned forward, hoping when he opened them, she could see them, "I thought… maybe you'd give me a chance."

"I would?" Holly blinked in surprise, recoiling slightly, and Remus nodded. Finally, he turned and looked at her.

"Will you allow me to be in your life, Holly?"

Holly hummed slightly, staring into the molten gold eyes, wondering who or what was really in control of Remus Lupin. The meek professor present for every moment before had brown eyes, just brown. The only other time she'd seen gold was when he'd been between her and the boggart when he'd had full fangs in his mouth. Hermione and Ron both claimed to not have seen the color, too focused on the boggart and Holly's distress to notice it. But she wasn't mistaken, the color was gold.

She had the sudden feeling that she was looking not at the man, but the wolf.

Holly, however, was willing to give a relationship with Lupin a shot, even if he was a wolf. However, she had one crucial question for him before she did. And that was namely, what did he know about Peter Pettigrew?

She opened her mouth to ask- and a feeling of dread crept up her spine. Like her magic was warning her of something. Holly gasped in alarm had automatically reached for her chest even if she felt no pain.

Something was wrong.

"Cub?!"


	8. Made New

**TW: child abuse mentioned**

* * *

Holly woke up with a headache pounding in her brain. Instinctively she grumbled and cracked her eyes open. Holly was didn't contemplate sleeping in; she was long used to being forced into action despite waking up in pain. It was instinct; it happened before she even truly knew where she was. Before Holly even realized that she could very well sleep in within Hogwarts' Hospital Wing. She could have slept in because she was in the infirmary… again.

"Not again," Holly whined as she pressed her fingers firmly into her temple. There was someone beside her, she could sense their gaze. But without her glasses, Holly couldn't truly make out the brown blob as a person. She peaked an eye open, looking for her wayward glasses and found them suddenly thrust toward her, held in uncertain hands.

"Here." Holly reached out and ran her fingers around the delicate metal. Her poor glasses were scratched to the high heavens, and after the last year, she found that looking through them that everything was a tiny bit fuzzy. It meant she'd have to do yet another trip to the eye-doctor with… well, not her aunt, Holly didn't live with Petunia any more. She'd have to ask the Weasley's instead to take her… she wondered if there was a magical eye-doctor and how expensive that would be.

Holly shook out her wayward thoughts as she placed her glasses on her face. She ignored the fuzziness and the slight cloudiness of everything as she usually saw and focused instead on the person who'd handed them to her. In this case, it was Professor Lupin. Holly found herself instantly relieved by the golden shade in his eyes; that the color itself was a comfort wasn't something she wanted to get into. She knew most others would be thrown off by the lupine look instead of the typical warm brown. Holly wasn't most people though. She'd noticed the drastic personality change associated with the man's eyes. Holly much preferred how Lupin acted when his eyes were gold. He'd had brown eyes when he'd confronted her about Padfoot on the first day, brown when teaching them and ignoring her, brown as he avoided her every time she went to speak to him. But he'd had gold when he'd given her the truth, gold when he'd protected her from the dementor, and gold now.

Holly suspected the color had something to do with the fact that Lupin was a werewolf; she didn't press for proof of that thought. Holly didn't want to be insensitive or seem clueless before her parents' friend. Instead, she'd just ask Hermione later about the color, and if Hermione didn't know, they'd figure it out together.

As Holly took him in, Remus set aside a book he had been reading upside-down and settled his hands in his lap to smile kindly at her. As he did, a form shifted at her feet, the fur that brushed her leg was no longer alien, so Holly didn't have to look to know it was just Padfoot making himself comfortable.

"Thanks… Professor Lupin?" she hesitated, unsure what to do the man who'd been that close to her parents. While at the same time, she found herself wondering where Pomfrey was usually the woman arrived immediately after Holly woke up.

"Please," his hands flexed on his pants. Holly noticed the shift, she always noticed the hands first. The hands were always the first sign of when Vernon would attack if they moved in aggression than Holly knew to brace herself. She noticed hands first. But Lupin didn't lift them, they just flexed, and her gaze turned back to his eyes - the second thing to watch, hands and then eyes. "Call me Moony," he requested as he scooted the chair closer toward her. There was a minimal distance between them now, just a small place for his legs and the bed, and she wasn't… she wasn't afraid. His hands weren't rushing toward her, he wasn't bright purple or red in color; he was calm, and his eyes were gold.

Holly wasn't scared of this Lupin no matter what he did during the full moon, not until she'd been given a reason not to trust him.

"What happened?" Holly rubbed her nose and glanced around. It was just her, Padfoot, and Moony, and there was still no sign of Pomfrey.

"You fell unconscious." There was a snorting noise from the foot of the bed where Padfoot lay, but the sound had to be a coincidence because dogs didn't do that. They didn't, and Holly told herself they didn't even if she'd seen what happened when an animal acted a bit... too, human. Moony shot her dog a baleful look, and Holly purposely ignored it. "Your magic lashed out in defense, and it tried to move too far from you, the backlash knocked you out."

"Defense of what?" Holly immediately asked as she pushed herself into a proper position to have a conversation. A position that Moony acknowledged as defensive, it made her seem bigger in the too-large bed, made her able to fight or flee easier. Moony mourned that she had to do that with him. If he'd had his way, his pup would never have doubted his intentions, but she did, and he had to remind himself that she was hurt, and she was scared, and he should not react to it. And then a light growl escaped him, it was protective, just thinking of what caused her fear made him furious-

Holly's eyes flew wide, and he instantly snapped the sound off when the harsh scent of fear drifted into his nose.

"Sir-" she cut off as he released an inhuman whine, "Moony?" and corrected.

That was the problem, not that Moony or Holy yet realized it. Moony was too much of a wolf to act according to the humans around him, he didn't understand them or their motivation. While should he allow his human part to reign, then Remus would never act, let alone attempt to defend his pack. His being was at war, and neither side was better off in control, even if Moony and Holly preferred his wolf.

"In defense of your soul," Moony explained, trying to pull his attention from Holly's fear. His instincts were raging with him, the scent of fear in his nose, and the eye-contact… Holly was staring too much, challenging him without doing so… it made his hackles raise. He wanted to cuff her, to show her that he was alpha and her a pup… while a small pack of his brain resisted. Still, he couldn't help the thought. A pack-born kid would know better. "-and not, as many believe, in defense of yourself against me." She looked away, and he let himself breathe out.

Holly's brows pinched together: "why would I need to defend myself from you?" No wait, she could guess. It was because of what he was, Madam Pomfrey had likely taken one look at her in Moony's arms and had come to the incorrect conclusion. "Never mind, obviously it wasn't you, and I'll tell her that when I see her," Holly flapped a dismissive hand and refocused on his other statement, "but, why would I need to defend my soul?"

Moony scented the air, his gaze flicking to the corner of the room and then the door. Watching him do so made Holly think she was seriously missing something, but had no idea what. It didn't help that Padfoot had gone positively rigid on the end of the bed either, "Not yours, his."

His?

Oh…

Oh no.

Moony opened his mouth to say something, to explain, but the panic had already hit her. Holly instantly hummed a few frantic bars of her and his song, and she waited for a response. She didn't even notice that it was the first time she'd sung in front of an adult without fear, never realized how big a deal that truly was for her. All she could focus on was the silence in the back of her head; he hadn't responded. But that could be explained by a hundred things. He could be asleep, or busy, or… or using the bathroom. He was probably fine. He'd respond soon. He would.

Moony continued on, his voice rumbling soothingly despite her panic. "There is a phenomenon associated with soulmates, specifically with soulmates in which there is a wizard or witch in the pairing. It's rare admittedly, but not unheard of." Holly double-checked Moony's eyes as the 'teacher' tone escaped him. Still, his eyes remained golden, and she looked away again. "Simply put, I believe the attack was your magic lashing out instinctively in defense of your soulmate. Some theorize that had you been in close contact, your magic would have protected him from danger. But because he is not close to you-"

"my magic raced out and went too far, causing a backlash," Holly realized. It was still quiet, he was still quiet… he was never quiet. "But if he's in danger, then there's nothing I can do!"

A loud 'boom' echoed through the infirmary, and Holly cut herself off. She and Moony both snapped their heads to the infirmary door, and as Holly watched, dust flicked off the walls to rain down by the door. Padfoot, in the same moment, snapped up and launched right off the bed. A growl built in Padfoot's throat, and his fur stood on end as he snarled at the door and whoever was behind it. A noise that was swiftly matched by Moony, who rushed from his seat.

"Moony?" Holly asked, throwing her blanket off her legs so she could defend herself. She cast her eyes around the area and caught sight of her wand on the nearby side table. Holly grabbed for it, then palmed the wood and pointed it at the door defensively. She acted in defense of herself, reacted the same way as Moony and Padfoot, two canines, basically. "Where… is Madam Pomfrey?"

The growl tripled in volume, and Holly's wand shifting slightly so she could move it to stun him if he suddenly turned violent. She shot a paranoid look at Moony, and her wand lowered as she gaped at him. Holly watched as his body shifted. His teeth tripled in size, his nails turned into thick claws, and a full snout had started to form as he snarled. An instinctual fear born from never seeing this sort of thing grew within her. Holly had no idea that fear and the scent of it made everything just a little worse for the werewolf beside her. But she couldn't help it. Holly didn't know the situation, and Hermione had gone on and on about how dangerous werewolves were when they'd done the lesson with Snape, how they couldn't control themselves and… and it was night, and she didn't know when the full moon was. So he may be changing right there, and she was locked in and-

"Uhm…?!" she backed away from the bed, edging around it to distance herself from the werewolf and the door. Padfoot at the ground shifted as he placed himself between her and Padfoot while keeping the door in sight. Padfoot was focusing on the door as much as Moony was, but he seemed more aware of where Holly was. Seemingly, because Padfoot hadn't given Moony a second look, Padfoot was not finding the werewolf a danger as Holly was.

Another boom rattled the windows, and Holly snapped her attention from the werewolf to the door. Who was doing that? Who could be doing that? Why were the doors locked anyway?

"Moony?" she muttered, feeling vulnerable. What had happened while she was asleep? Was it Voldemort again- Moony's eyes snapped to her, golden and focused. He scented her fear and mistook the reason for it. It tripled his fury, and he dropped onto all fours; his claws rent into the ground of the infirmary, and Padfoot lost it. Her dog started to bark like mad.

"No!" Moony growled, a guttural, animalistic sound, "no, you cannot- she is MINE."

The doors slammed open, and Holly gazed at what was angering Moony so much, to deflate slightly in confusion.

It was Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey in the doorway. The medi-witch was half-hidden behind the doors to her infirmary, and Dumbledore looked fierce. Padfoot, still barking like crazy, barely caught any attention as Moony and the headmaster faced off, and Holly stood there feeling utterly, madly, confused. She glanced between them, between Moony and Dumbledore with her wand limp her in fingers, because where did she point it? This was the headmaster and the man that should have been a god-father to her. What did she do? What should she do?

"Lupin." Dumbledore sounded calm, gentle. His hands lifted placating while his attention focused on the 'threat' in the room. He didn't notice as Holly cringed back from that tone. There were two tones she couldn't stand, two tones that sent her mind into overdrive and pure instinct. The sound of barley surprised rage was the first. It was unlike pure anger like Snape and Voldemort had used; suppressed rage was the act of her Uncle holding back because they were in public, and she knew it wouldn't last behind closed doors. The second was that calm tone people used on kids when they just wanted the child to listen when they really didn't care as long as you obeyed. Petunia used that tone all the time in public, had used it to pretend she was a nice kind aunt. So many people had fallen for it even when presented the proof in the form of Holly's bruises.

Holly hadn't expected that tone from the headmaster, she hadn't because he was kind… he was supposed to be kind. But then- when she'd confessed to him at the end of her first year, told him about the abuse she'd suffered, he'd used that tone to encourage her to return to the Dursley's. He'd used it to get her to do what he wanted. Used it to make her think her aunt and Uncle weren't that bad and she'd spent the next month locked in her room, being given food through a cat-door- she'd-

"Calm yourself… you're putting Holly at risk." Dumbledore said as Holly's wand locked onto him.

'Was he though?' Holly glanced at Moony, at the back of his snarling furious form. She took in the back of his jacket, the back of his head, the back of Remus Lupin. Holly was behind a werewolf, Moony had placed himself between her and the danger he was perceiving. It… it reminded her of a video she'd seen on the telly while she'd been cleaning years ago of a panther defending her cubs against a hunter. Vernon had been thrilled to see the 'beast' shot down, but the announcer had spoken to its defense. The documentary explained how dangerous animals could be around their children, how protective they were when their pups were threatened. Moony, he'd called her cub, so… wasn't this the same? Wasn't Moony protecting her?

"You will not touch her!"

"Remus my boy," Dumbledore stepped forward. The man on the telly had said that was a bad idea, and Holly braced herself, "she safe, Holly's is safe… and you need to step away." Dumbledore's eyes flicked to Holly, and he said ignoring dismissing Moony as a threat to make her act. "Holly, move away, please."

Holly made a face; that, she decided, would be an equally bad idea. She didn't take a step, her feet were planted until this situation resolved itself. A vibrating noise escaped Moony as Holly straightened her spine, and he clawed at the ground creating large groves in the stone. He was a moment away from charging, one more little thing would set him off, and Holly refused to be the reason for that. She stayed still, and Dumbledore's lips pinched slightly in upset. The headmaster looked back at Moony. Away from her and Holly allowed herself to relax a bit unaware that Dumbledore was challenging Moony with the intense stare he was treating the man with.

"Remus, I cannot allow you to continue putting Holly and the school at risk-"

"I would never-"

There was a flash of red as Holly flinched back. Moony hadn't moved, hadn't even twitched, and then he was on the ground. All Dumbledore had done was given a negligible flick of his wand- and then Moony dropped. That alone served to show her exactly how powerful Dumbledore was, and yet even Dumbledore hadn't defeated Voldemort. It made her wonder how on earth she was supposed to do what Dumbledore couldn't.

Moony struck the ground hard and went still. It was almost anti-climatic, and Holly couldn't help but stare at him, at the fact that his eyes were still open. At the gold shade, she found so comforting- and then Dumbledore was levitating him off the ground. He seemed almost dismissive of Holly, and Holly knew if she tried to ask that she'd not be told a thing. Not unless it was Moony she asked.

"Poppy."

"Of course." Madam Pomfrey rushed forward, ushering Holly into her bed. But Holly's feet were still planted, and she couldn't wrench her eyes from Moony's form as he was levitated away from her and out of her sight. Dumbledore didn't stop to explain, he didn't give her a second look as he took Moony out of her life. Took her only tie to her parents, one of three adults that had ever cared about her, who had tried so hard to defend her from… from the very man that just took him.

"Wait-" Holly stepped forward, and Pomfrey placed herself between Holly and the door.

"Sit down miss Potter!" Holly flinched back from the aggressive tone, the warning in it. She knew the medi-witch would never actually hurt her, but the prior experience froze Holly's blood.

At her flinch, Pomfrey softened her tone and posture, but it was too late, Holly's trust was a fickle thing, and she no longer trusted the woman. Would no longer trust Pomfrey with information just as she no longer trusted McGonagall when she'd dismissed Holly's concerns about the stone first year.

"Where is the headmaster taking Mo- Professor Lupin?" Holly pressed as Pomfrey tucked her back into bed. Curiously, Padfoot seemed to have vanished- no, there he was. Holly could catch the end of his tail under a nearby bed. He was hiding the smart pup. Pomfrey didn't allow pets in the infirmary, and with the current mood, she'd definitely not have exceptions for Holly's mutt.

"That is not something you need to bother yourself with Miss Potter," Pomfrey tried to soothe.

"I'm involved!" she argued. Why did adults always say that sort of thing, she just wanted the truth! Why was that so hard for people?

"Lupin is a danger to the school Miss Potter," Pomfrey sighed, tucking Holly's legs in and taking Holly's wand. Lupin hadn't done that, he hadn't stolen her method of defending herself. Pomfrey did, and Holly hated her for it. Hated her and smothered it under the polite smile Holly had long ago copied from her aunt so she could get answers. "I'm afraid he has forgotten to take his potion and, as such, has made himself a danger to everyone in this school."

"Potion?" Holly pressed as the woman pushed potions toward her, potions that Holly really did not want to take.

Pomfrey froze as she put Holly's wand on the side-table, then she shook her head as if realizing she'd said something she shouldn't have. Very much like Hagrid did, in fact. "Never you mind that, you need your rest Miss Potter, and you need to take these," the woman scowled to herself, "you certainly don't need more stress, honestly!"

"Right…" Holly managed and accepted the potions she was given. "And… what are these?"

"A calming potion Miss Potter, goodness knows you need it."

"Thanks." She glanced around, wondering how she could avoid taking them when Padfoot suddenly shot out from under the bed to loudly bark. Holly gaped at her dog, at the smirk on his snout that was entirely too human, and then Pomfrey was screaming. Holly's dog had just given her a perfect chance to avoid drinking the potions. She grabbed the moment. As Pomfrey rushed to corral the beast out of her infirmary, Holly snatched hold of her wand and vanished the vial's insides. Then she quickly returned her wand to position and tipped the empty bottle to her lips just as Pomfrey slammed the doors closed on Padfoot's butt.

"Animals are not allowed in the infirmary, Miss Potter!" Pomfrey stated once as a scratching sounded from the Hospital wing doors. The woman made a face at the noise and accepted the vial approval in her eyes that Holly had taken it without much fuss.

"Sorry Ma'am." She offered utterly insincerely, and Pomfrey knew it.

"This," Pomfrey's finger leveled at Holly's head, "will not be happening again." Holly feigned innocence before Pomfrey left in a huff to return to her office. The woman tossed an order of 'sleep' to Holly as she left, and the door closed.

Holly, of course, did the exact opposite of that. Near instantly, she swung her legs off the bed, grabbed hold of her wand, and rushed for the door but- but Pomfrey would notice her leave. She'd be listening for it, watching for it. Holly knew there had to be wards on the doors to keep track of people coming and going, Hermione had said as much. But she had to leave! She had to find out what happened to Lupin and if he knew more about her soulmate because he-

He still hadn't sung anything to her. Holly had nearly forgotten, but her head was still silent, and it meant nothing good.

Holly needed to find Moony.

She reached up, hand hovering over the door handle. Holly would have to be quick, to rush through it and find Moony before Pomfrey could stop her. This wasn't a stealth mission, it was a damned bum-rush from hell- she could do it. She could-

"Holly!"

"Bugger!" Holly swung on the spot wand coming up as she turned to face the figure standing behind her, who'd appeared out of thin air to call out. "Hermione? How'd you get in here?" There was no way for it to have happened. The hospital had been empty except for Padfoot and herself after Dumbledore and Pomfrey left. Yet there her best friend stood, bushy hair and pinched expression in place. Hermione had appeared out of thin air. Thin… air? No- she'd- "you time traveled!"

"Here, quickly," Hermione urged voice quiet. Holly lowered her own voice to match remembering hopefully not too late that Pomfrey was in hearing distance. She shot a paranoid look at the door which remained closed, then turned back to Hermione, who was pulling open her shirt collar. There, hanging on her neck was a golden chain attached to a small circular device. Carefully Hermione un-looped the chain from her neck and tossed it over Holly's head. Then, Hermione grabbed the end of the time-turner and turned a small nob. The moment Hermione stopped the world twisted around her and-

Something wrenched at Holly's heart, and she staggered as if she'd been knocked from behind. Holly's hands grabbed her chest and dug in, she inhaled a sharp gasp as the sudden unexplainable feeling of loss shook her. Her nails clawed at her skin, and she wordlessly whined, it was wrong, wrong wrong and her head was achingly silent. This was beyond him not singing to her, this silence was echoing. It ripped away any comfort in silence that might exist between her and her soulmate and replaced it with- with- hands grasped at Holly's and pulled her nails from her chest.

Holly shot a look up at Hermione's face. The world had stopped turning, and the sun was filtering in from a nearby window. Hermione was speaking lowly to Holly, repeating the same sentence over and over to soothe her. "The feeling will pass, he's fine. I promise he's fine. It'll pass."

"What is this?" Holly asked because Hermione was right. It was passing, the feeling was fading, and the silence wasn't as bad as it first was. Something about the knowledge Hermione was giving her; that he was fine helped. It really helped.

"Terrible things happen to wizards who interfere with time," Hermione explained and fished a hand into her backpack. From it came Holly's clothing and a pair of trainers. These were thrust into Holly's arms. "Dress, quickly."

"Err… okay." Holly accepted the clothing and did precisely that, "What terrible things happen?"

Hermione was looking away from her, eyes on the infirmary wall as she slowly said: "did you know… that when you travel in time, your soulmates voice goes silent?"

Holly stopped hands on her shirt buttons and stared. She hadn't, Hermione had never mentioned it or the costs of her time-turner use. But if this was the cost, then Holly would have to take back everything she'd said about her friend keeping the damned thing.

"People theorize it's to protect the soul from the fall-back of traveling since you could send your soulmate into madness if there were suddenly two voices in your head." Hermione bit her lip as Holly put the clothing she had been wearing into the backpack Hermione was carrying. "I've spent this year without him in my head, and it's… I can see why no one does this. Why no one chooses to travel. I get why Professor McGonagall told me to just drop a class," Hermione hissed out a breathe voice shaky, "I thought I could use the turner instead to sleep, but… I can't. It's too quiet in my head. He always sings me to sleep, you know, and without him…"

"What?" Holly breathed out, shocked that she'd missed so much of Hermione's suffering.

"I only hear him now when I'm current with his time-line, where there is only one of me around… and that's not common. And when I am awake, he's singing questions to me. This is affecting him too… he's noticed but doesn't understand." Hermione continued before getting a bit analytical. She forced logic onto what happened before she snapped, "the pain you were feeling, it was your soul. I believe… I believe it's a muted feeling of the connection being forced closed. It's… it's an artificial way of feeling the loss of the connection. But documentaries said it's only a bare sliver of what will actually happen when that occurs." She fisted her hands, "He won't hear you here, not until we catch up." She shook her head, and her curls bounced around her head. "Now, tell me what this is all about."

Holly made a confused noise when Hermione turned around to face her, "I was going to ask you that."

"Hmm," Hermione took on her 'lecturing pose.' "You know very well that I cannot use this power for frivolous nonsense, Holly! And yet Ron still showed up and told me to trust him and that you needed me to travel to that exact moment and back," she flicked her hair, "so some answers would be proper."

"I can't answer that," Holly handed back the pajamas, and Hermione stashed the back in her backpack. "Ron isn't even involved, so if he's telling you I needed you… then that's because you and I told him, to tell you, that I needed you…" She trailed off, getting confused, "its time-travel! I don't know everything!"

"I suppose that makes sense," Hermione tapped her finger to her chin thoughtfully.

"What did he tell you exactly?"

"He handed me your clothing and told me to go back three hours, grab you, and then do one hour, which I haven't even done before yet! And when I pushed for answers, he asked me that if I trusted him, you, and myself, that I had to do it and I'd find out why soon. So… why did you need me? Can you think of anything?" she scrunched her brow, "and if you can't, what were you doing right now?"

Holly hummed, two hours in her own past. So, about when she was speaking to Moony the first time. Maybe she was supposed to find out what Dumbledore's deal with Moony was? "I have a theory, something… Something weird with Dumbledore and Mo- Professor Lupin, and about now, my magic was lashing out to defend my soulmate." Holly wanted to pace, she wanted to, but she narrowly avoided it, "and then… then Dumbledore was weird with Professor Lupin, really weird… and I think I need to know why."

"Your magic lashed out in defense of your soulmate? "Hermione leaned forward eyes alight with curiosity, "how do you know? What was it like?"

"Moony said my magic was trying to defend him, and it caused a backlash because it couldn't reach him… but I don't know why."

"Well, that makes sense. He's in another world, so of course your magic wouldn't reach but… still, I didn't know you could do that."

"Me either."

They fell silent, thinking of their soulmates. Holly's was in an unknown danger, and she couldn't even begin to reach him. Nor could she even sing to him now because her connection had been muted by the time-turner. And Holly hated that. Hated that all she could do was sing to him, sing and hope for the best… Merlin, that was one of the worst feelings in the world, and it made her guilty. Guilty to know that she'd kept silent for eleven years, he hadn't known she even existed for eleven years. How horrible he must have felt. It was no wonder he sang so energetically now that she responded.

Hermione, at the same time, thought of the deep voice in her head. Heavily accented and likely, as his hints suggested to her, a Durmstrang student. She'd only heard his voice sporadically during the current year because of her time-turner. Every time she had, he'd gotten tenser and tenser. She longed to meet him and to explain why she'd chosen to use the time-turner. She prayed to all the gods that he understood and wasn't like everyone else she'd ever met who'd judge her for it. Judged her for her desire to learn taking precedent before everything else.

Hermione refocused on the moment, pulled her thoughts from the pointless. She couldn't know how he'd react before she met him, and she had to have faith that his soulmate would understand purely because of who he was. "Alright, where are you, the you of the past, now?"

"Err, probably being carried to the… infirmary." They both at once glanced at the door in a panic. Moony would be arriving at any moment, and they needed to act now. Hermione fished her hand in her backpack again and withdrew the invisibility cloak, which Ron had thankfully thrust into her arms before she'd traveled. She tossed it to Holly, who pulled it over them both- just in time for the doors to go flying open with Moony rushing in. Holly and Hermione scrambled back, working together to creep behind a nearby bed set as Pomfrey appeared in a rush as her wards activated.

Holly then got to witness exactly what happened when she'd been unconscious.

"What happened?!" Pomfrey yelled for answers as she exited her office. Holly found herself pressing further into hiding with Hermione and noted that Pomfrey never sounded that panicked. Madam Pomfrey usually spoke in a firm but calm voice to get answers about her patients. The teachers or students that generally came to her were scared enough without the healer laying on more fear. This panicked woman… that was normal, and it took a moment to figure out why Pomfrey was so off. Then, she figured it out as she caught sight of Moony's golden eyes, brighter than she'd seen before.

Holly felt the exact moment Hermione noticed as well, as her best friend tenses like a frightened rabbit. But Holly is utterly calm. She'd already seen Moony in full rage, and he'd kept her at his back the entire time. Holly has nothing to fear. And, Holly suspects, she doesn't from his full werewolf form either.

"'Mione, when is the next full moon?" Holly glanced briefly to the side, curious but unconcerned.

"Tomorrow night," Hermione whispered back.

Pomfrey slowly attempted to speak to Lupin. "Put her on the bed, Lupin," her voice was measured, controlled. But it was apparent to the girls that she's trying to get Holly away from the potential threat.

"She forgot he can smell her," Holly whispered to Hermione who's hands flexed on Holly's arm. Hermione claimed a measured brief trying to control her own fear like she'd done with the Boggart; she knew werewolves thanks to Professor Snape. She knew that werewolves could smell emotions, especially this close to the full moon. Hermione had just forgotten. But, as she remembered, a fact did occur to Hermione. It was very likely that Professor Lupin can smell them already. It8 was likely the cloak was useless in hiding from a werewolf.

"You want to take her- like him."

'Him' again. Was he talking about Dumbledore? Holly leaned forward eyes narrowed.

"No! No. Remus." Pomfrey holds up her hands and ducks her head; submissive posture Hermione knows which is interesting to see. In another situation, Hemione would have pointed it out to Holly; that this is how they were supposed to act around an angry werewolf? "I only want to help, please, put her on the bed-"

"NO!" Moony threw out a hand, and his magic, wild and uncontrolled, reacted. Pomfrey was tossed across the room, sent right through the still open Hospital wing doors. A moment before the doors slammed closed after her, Holly spotted a tail slip through the door. The locking sound following that was audible and made Hermione jump with nervous energy. She couldn't help but think that they were locked in now, and Hermione didn't have the entire story, so she was afraid.

Holly didn't either, but she certainly had more than Hermione. She wasn't frightened of her past self, not as Moony turned toward the bed and lowered her past self gingerly into it. She wasn't afraid, not as he fretted silently over her unconscious form and wrapped several blankets around her. Not as he spells her into a pair of conjured pajama's and tucks her hair behind her ear like- like… her eyes feel hot as the thought threatens her. Because he's acting like a parent and she'd missed it. She'd had someone actually fretting over her bedside and could only watch it from the outside. The realization hurt.

"Pup," Moony spoke out, his hand hovering over Holly's forehead. But his head- his head was tilted toward them, toward Hermione and Holly hiding away. He glanced toward them and then staggered. Holly half rose, moving to go help him, and then her dog was changing.

"Moony!"

Holly and Hermione watched it happen, were sitting right there as her dog- as her dog.

"Oh my god." Hermione breathed as Holly sank back. Holly wasn't as surprised as she'd liked to have been. All the signs in the world had been there. She'd just chosen to ignore or dismiss them.

Her dog- her dog was- he was-

"Remus." Sirius Orion Black caught Remus before he fell, braced him to the best of his ability, which wasn't great due to the malnourished state of his body. Better, by far, then during the summer, but still malnourished. With Remus' added weight, he was forced to the ground, and the pair collapsed together.

Across the room, Hermione shot Holly a stunned look as the meaning of this sank in. Because Fred had been going on for nearly the entire year about Sirius Black, treating them to intense monologues about the man he suspected to be innocent of his crimes. Fred had gone on and on about how Pettigrew, the rat that had been hiding out with their family. He'd spoken at length that no innocent man lived their life as a rat, which obviously meant Black wasn't the one who betrayed Holly's parents. He'd gone off even more when no sighting of Black near Hogwarts occurred because, obviously, he wasn't hunting Holly.

And Holly couldn't help but think the theories Fred would pull out over this. Because Black had been her dog the entire year and hadn't done a thing to her, instead, he'd… he'd listened with a calm ear about her abuse. Who'd defended her like Moony from Dumbledore… who'd never revealed himself-

A rush of betrayal stung her heart because suspecting or not, she'd told him her every secret and… the idea of someone knowing all that was brutal. It was worse because this might have been the man who betrayed her parents. Because if Fred was wrong, then- Holly clenched her fists and bit her lip until it bled.

Moony slowly pulled from Sirius Black and exhaled. "Padfoot, you should not have revealed yourself." The meaning of that was two-fold because Holly knew that Moony was aware she was there with Hermione. He could probably hear her, smell her, and he was telling Sirius Black that he shouldn't have revealed himself to her. That feeling of betrayal stabbed firmly at her heart. She released a nearly inaudible whimper that caused Moony to flinch.

"You were going to get hurt," Sirius defended as he shoved to his feet, "Your… your magic is weak enough with that stunt, you shouldn't exert yourself so much."

"Now you sound like Lily." Hurt rushed across Sirius Black's face, and it mirrored Holly's. Moony seemed to sense it and pulled away from Black. He stood and sank gingerly into the nearby chair, the very same Holly had awakened to find him in. "and here I thought you were settled on staying a dog. What will you do if the cub catches you." Moony's eyes darted to Holly's hiding spot with an apology on his face. She looked away, unable to bear it.

"She won't," Sirius climbed to his feet, shaking on two legs. He wasn't used to them, not with how much time he was spending as a dog, not with how difficult it was becoming to shift the longer he spent as a canine, "she doesn't want to see… She wants a dog, so I'll stay one for her, to protect her as Padfoot… it's the least I could do after what I did."

Holly glanced back at them to see Moony's face twisted in amusement. Then Moony turned directly to her, looked at her passed where Sirius was standing. Then he said point-blank, "And yet you continue to let her believe Pettigrew is a hero and you the traitor." Holly's heart twisted up again, Fred was right… bugger he'd never let anyone live it down either. The traitor was bloody Pettigrew, who died that summer in Sirius Black's bloody mouth. Holly made a disgusted face at the thought.

"You figured it out… how'd you figure it out?" Sirius sagged on the spot, guilt becoming pronounced, and Holly took a far better look at him. Sirius fidgeted terribly and kept glancing at the sleeping Holly as he said: "When did you figure it out?"

"I scented you; you stood right at the pup's side and smelled only of love, guilt, and protection. You meant no danger to her." He spoke it as a fact, and Holly understood. Moony had smelled his intentions, but Lupin had ignored it. That was why he hadn't said anything. Because the two were not one and the same.

Still… "You should have told me." Holly bit out in a furious whisper that she knew Moony would catch. He didn't acknowledge it, not with Sirius so close.

"Then why didn't you say anything?" Sirius asked nearly at the same time as Holly's whisper, his expression almost as broken as Holly's was.

To this, Moony scowled and explained to them both: "Because I spent the year trapped within my own mind. Because Lupin ignores his own instincts and every one of my warnings because a single old dog told him to."

"Remus… you sound…" Sirius eyed the man with a pinch between his brows, "why are you talking like you and Remus aren't the same person?"

"Because I am not." Moony focused on Sirius calmly, "Remus Lupin is a coward that allowed Albus Dumbledore to convince him to stay away from pack. Remus Lupin," -he spat the name at Sirius- "was a fool who locked me up despite how many times I tried to claim our cub to take her from those that meant her harm. Who believed an entity that has no reason to be so involved in our or Holly's lives that I was dangerous. Believed I would actually harm our cub, believed me capable-" Moony cut off furiously with a snarl. He shot up from the chair and nearly knocked it over from the force. His eyes glittered as he did it, and Holly felt Hermione's hand tighten on her arm. "Remus Lupin was the man poisoning me all year, who was killing us both and still ignoring our cub within our reach who needed us."

He took a step into Sirius's space and stared at the man his own height down: "I am not Remus Lupin, I am Moony, and Holly is my pack. And so long as I breathe, I will never abandon her again, nor will Remus Lupin ever regain control of our body."

Holly sucked in a breath and pressed her fingers to her lips. She did so to stop herself from sobbing, even as warm tears slipped down her face. She wanted, he was family, and he wanted her. Hermione's hands squeezed her shoulders, relieved and overjoyed for her friend even if she was also concerned. Because Remus Lupin sounded like he might have something like a split personality, and it worried her.

"Moony…" Sirius stared up at him in shock, he had no words for this. No words, but it still strangely made sense. Padfoot had been a dog running across the forests with Moony, Prongs, and Wormtail. He'd watched Moony in play. Watched a lanky wolf grow into himself. Observed how utterly loyal Moony was to his pack, how confident he was as a wolf. How different he was to Remus Lupin, who was timid, quiet, and nervous as he walked around as a human body. As Remus hated himself every day of his life and Moony enjoyed everything life threw at him.

Sirius had seen both because he and Padfoot were one being long before the dementors tested the limits of his mind. But Moony, he'd never been one, and Sirius was only just realizing it. This was… Moony had a split-

"Moony," Sirius said firmly. This wasn't Remus, this was the wolf in human form, and Sirius had to act accordingly. Because he'd always believed Moony was more in control than anyone realized. There had been a reason he'd snuck Snape in to see Moony after all. People were so frightened of werewolves and Remus of his other half. But Sirius had been fully confident back then that he'd have been able to talk Moony down. Though admittedly, perhaps Sirius should have tested that before James got involved, and he nearly got expelled. "What do you mean, Remus was trying to poison you?"

"Yes, elaborate," Hermione muttered at Holly's side, the girls hanging off every word.

"Wolfsbane," Moony said simply, "the poison designed to destroy me, that gave him control when it was my time."

"He thought it would keep the children safe-"

"He believes I would harm pups!" Moony swiped at the nearby table and sent a vase flying over the edge to shatter. It caused everyone to flinch and for Sirius to shook a panicked look at Holly's sleeping form. "I am no human set to abuse and torture pups!" Moony spun on the spot fangs pronounced as more of the wolf showed itself, "that is what humans do, that is not what a wolf does!"

"I understand." Sirius soothed, trying to calm the wolf down, "I get it."

"Like a real wolf," Hermione whispered to Holly as he tried, "the books, they're wrong. Werewolves aren't mad beasts, he's intelligent. Like a wolf with a basic understanding of how humans work," And she sounded horrified about that.

"I don't understand," Holly admitted.

Hermione shifted toward her quietly, "the books claim werewolves are beasts, monsters that kill anything they see. All the books say they'll attack relentlessly and only stop when another werewolf calls them. But it's wrong. Werewolves are like wolves. They're pack animals, they have instinct and… and they can think for themselves… this is-" she cut off, "but is Professor Lupin still inside him? This seems like split-personality disorder, except… magical? I'll have to look into it, but it's possible that-"

"Moony," Sirius managed to get in close, just using his voice, and he cut Hermione off, "I get it, you'd never hurt Holly. I know that you don't need to convince me, alright?" he was focused on this moment, focused when nearly a year ago he couldn't even string two thoughts together. Now, with the peace of knowing Pettigrew was dead, separation from the dementors, consistent meals, and the sheer magic in the air around Hogwarts, Sirius was healing. He, at that moment, was the sanest he'd been since… since he'd first been taken into Azkaban. And Sirius' very presence as Moony's only pack slowly calmed Moony in return.

"They want to take her from me."

"I'm sure that's not the case," Sirius soothed even if he couldn't be sure he'd heard Holly's confessions through the year. Of the Dursley's abuse and how the Weasley's took her in. If Dumbledore ignored her words about abuse like she'd told him, then it was possible that he'd let Moony nowhere near her, especially if Dumbledore saw Moony's eyes. That golden shade was unmistakable, and no one would allow a werewolf that close to the surface anywhere near the girl-who-lived. But what was he supposed to say? Tell Moony 'he was right' when he was that close to snapping?

"That is the case."

Holly didn't know what caused her to do it, but she'd tossed the cloak off her head and stood before she could second guess. She'd hidden Hermione and had revealed herself to the men that should have raised her. That would have let her sing and would have told her all about her parents.

As expected, Moony was unsurprised; he gazed at her almost lazily. But Sirius, her dog turned man, jumped a foot in the air and yelped like a canine. He swung around utterly guilty and horrified to realize she'd heard every single word- and-

"I told you we can't be seen!" Hermione snapped, tossing the rest of the cloak away, "do you not understand a single thing about time-travel?"

"Sorry, but… I need to be involved here, 'Mione." Holly sheepishly ducked her head, embarrassed slightly at her choice. Sirius did look like he was a split second from entirely-

"Stupefy!" Moony suddenly cast, and Sirius dropped dead into his arms. The girls jerked in surprise as Moony hurriedly placed his wand to Sirius's head, his eyes surprisingly brown. "Obliviate!"

Their eyes went wide as Moony placed Sirius gently onto the chair and glanced their way with almost brown eyes. Then he spoke, tone off, as he did. "Sirius is straight out of Azkaban Holly-" he wasn't using pup, "-time-travel could shatter his mind." So he'd obliviated the instant from Sirius' mind, made him think it hadn't happened. Erased Holly appearing from his memories to protect Sirius' mind.

"Moony?" Holly shrank back wary in the change of color. Careful now when she'd been fully comfortable with the idea of him transformed into a full werewolf a mere moment before and- and something in his brown eyes shattered. He'd noticed. He'd saw her wariness, but she couldn't take it back. "I'm-" sorry? Was she? Holly didn't know and had no idea how she was going to finish that sentence before Moony, or whoever was in control interrupted her.

"-I'm sorry, Holly, for every foolish mistake I've made when it comes to you."

"You- you didn't-" she couldn't say it, couldn't absolve him of it when she was barely acknowledging it herself, and that moment of hesitation was all it took. The brown bled away, and she was left with bright golden eyes and a man entirely wolf.

"Pup," Moony spoke up focused once more. Hermione, a step behind, gave a sharp inhale of breath, theories raced through her head as Holly stepped forward mournful but unsure if she should be. He held his hands out slightly, as if he wanted to close the gap between them and offer Holly an embrace but was unsure if he could. Holly took the choice from him. She thought of Moony protecting her on all fours, and Moony being whisked away by Dumbledore, and she threw himself into his and gripped him tight.

Moony's arms wrapped around her and squeezed. His nose dropped into her hair, and he inhaled her scent, he also twisted his head just so and brushed the underside of his neck against her cheek. Holly assumed it was something to do with the wolf and didn't question it, not as she finally felt herself relax. She'd been tense the entire time, on edge without him in her head. Holly was reminded of one of the reasons she'd come to speak to Moony and rushed right into her first question.

She pulled back, still in his arms, but moving so she could look him straight into his eyes. "You told me my magic might defend my soulmate, how do I… if he's hurt, I want to help him! Tell me how."

"Oh pup." Moony sank to his knees so he could cup her face, "you can't, I'm not sure what I will tell you, but that magic is assumed impossible to control. It's only recorded having occurred when soulmates are close to each other."

"So I… can't help him, but what if he… if he dies-"

"He's not dead, not yet. Do not think your mate weak," Moony told her firmly, "your soul would know, you would know." He ran a finger against her cheek and brushed her again with his wrist. "Just be there for him, that's all you can do, Holly. Just be there…" he hesitated, and Holly eyed him, he was holding something back.

"What is it?" she pressed.

"There is… I'm not sure if anyone has told you this yet, but there is another possibility beyond just… singing songs, you know?"

"What?" Hermione gasped from a few steps back. She was echoed by Holly saying the exact same word in the exact same moment and tone.

Moony huffed a breath, "Despite how long-lived humanity is, next to nothing is known about soulmates." He shifted into lecture mode, like a professor, but his eyes remained gold, and his hands fell to her shoulders. "Muggles know that when we sing, our soulmates hear us. They know we only have one soulmate. They know that when you find your soulmate, you can confirm it by matching your head's voice to the one you see. But there is more… so much more that our people know, that wizards know." He pulled back slightly to face them both, to explain it to them both. "We have the ability to split our very soul, to actually see it in a dementors attack. We know its shape, and Lupin has observed… oddities in singing pairs."

Moony gestured to Sirius, "Padfoot told Lupin once that he only heard certain songs from his soulmate as if half the ones they sang didn't exist and it seemed to go both ways. An oddity because he was still singing. Remus didn't understand that, because if Sirius followed what was believed, then every song he sang would come across. This grew more interesting when your parents matched up. By their seventh year, James and Lily could hear each other through regular conversation as long as they sang the words. They didn't need lyrics, let alone a tune. As long as they sang, they could be heard."

"Oh..." Hermione breathed, "but that makes sense; after all, the songs we sing now are just a string of words sung out instead of spoken. I always wondered, what makes a written song so different to just… singing. It's basically the same thing."

Moony inclined his head to her in agreement, "Lupin put the theory forth, that all someone had to do was sing, and they'd be heard. Lily told her dear friend Alice of this, and she elected to sing direct hints to her other half… she found him that afternoon in the Gryffindor common room named Frank." He gestured with his hands, "soulmates and bonds, we have only scratched the surface of understanding how it works. And you prove that even now."

"Your soulmate lives in another world," Hermione added to that wide-eyed, "that shouldn't even be possible, and yet it's true and… and-"

Holly was nodding along, "And my magic tried to help him despite that… do you think I could do what my parents did? Just sing at him?"

"Only one way to test that," Moony told her gently. And there was, she just had to wait until time caught up to do so. To sing without a proper song and see how much her pirate could hear. Would he hear her? What would she do if he could, it would change everything. They spoke the same language now so she could tell him so much more about herself than she currently had. That she was a witch, that she was working on getting to him and he could tell her about him in return. Circe, Holly hoped it worked. That she was like her parents before her.

They fell silent, Moony patient, Hermione with a full mind and Holly with so much more to think about now. Her eyes caught Sirius stunned and obliviated in the nearby chair, and her next topic was selected.

"Tell me about Sirius and Pettigrew."

"It is perhaps best you ask him about that," Moony told her gently, "only he can speak of the truth of that night, and I have only theories. Instead, I have a question of my own. Why did you use the time-turner?"

"We-"

"Don't tell him the future." Hermione interrupted hurriedly, "it's taboo, you could damage the future and send us onto an alternate time-line. Sorry, sir." She added the latter as an after-thought.

"Hn," he answered but didn't press as Holly shot him an apologetic look. "And how long do you have before time catches up?"

To that, Hermione checked cast a Tempus revealing a floating clock over her wrist. They'd only just learned that charm in class, and Hermione already had it perfect, she was quietly jealous of that. "Not long, depending on how quickly Holly woke up," she looked to Holly for an answer to that.

"I think ten minutes left give or take." How fast time had moved, it was crazy. "Though I'm surprised Pomfrey hasn't-"

A soft boom sounded much quieter than Holly had heard initially, and they all shot a look at the doors to the infirmary. "-Tried to break in yet."

"I sealed the door with my magic… and it seems Hogwarts is assisting, for that is the headmasters magic." Moony could scent Dumbledore to the doors, he believed the man must have been trying to tap into the wards to get in, and when that failed, he'd moved to attempt to bust the door down completely. At the current rate, it wouldn't be long until he got in, not with the strength Dumbledore possessed.

"Fifteen minutes until he gets in," Moony corrected her guess. It seems Hogwarts truly was giving them time, the building siding with them against her headmaster, and it surprised Moony.

"Not long," not long until whatever sent her into the past occurred, potentially his mind cracking, possibly his own death or him being forcefully removed from Holly's side. Moony snarled silently at the thought. He'd allow the latter over his dead body, she was his pup. "You two must hide, the old man can see under the cloak. He caught Prongs often with that trick."

"Prongs?" Holly glanced at Moony in confusion; she'd never heard that term before.

Moony laughed, feeling light and yet heavy at her confusion, "question Padfoot on that… ask him for the map he possesses. It will assist you greatly." He said so wary that he'd not get the chance to explain later. "Now, hide, both of you." His words were emphasized by the Holly in the bed groaning, she would wake up soon. He also needed to deal with Sirius, to convince the man to remain at Holly's side and to return to a canine when he'd just been obliviated.

"Come on, Holly." Hermione reached for her.

"Right," and she threw herself at Moony. She claimed one last hug before he was forced out of her life. Before she was forced to watch him dragged away again. Before Dumbledore moved to control her life again. She held Moony tight, hugged him for all her worth. Then she mumbled into his chest, "don't let him convince you to leave me… alright?" she couldn't bear it. She just couldn't.

"Never," he swore, squeezing her for all she was worth. Holly then allowed herself to pull away, to hide behind some beds with the cloak over her and Hermione's head. She and Hermione hid, pressed closed together behind one of the beds, and watched Remus revive Sirius and advise him to stay with Holly. Watched Sirius grumble, grouch, but eventually agree and transform to curl up at the end of the unconscious Holly's bed. As the booms grew louder and Remus settled in his chair to wait for Holly to wake. As he pretended to read the book, she would notice upon waking was upside-down.

And then the other Holly finally woke, confused and clueless about what would happen.

And Dumbledore burst the door open.

And Holly forced herself to remain a spectator as Dumbledore levitated Moony away without giving her past self a look.

"Come on," Holly whispered tugging Hermione to her feet, she tucked the cloak tight around her and ensured it covered her and Hermione completely. "I need to know what happens next."

"To know?" Hermione whispered back as they followed Dumbledore and Moony out of the hospital wing before the doors were locked by Pomfrey.

Holly crept quietly forward, kept her distance from the man who could very likely see right through her cloak. She never even realized she was acting exactly how she did with the Dursley's, walking soundless, expecting a violent response just by being discovered. That would be something she'd click into much later. "I need to know what Dumbledore is going to do to Moony, what he's going to say…" She had to know if he'd brush Moony off like he'd brushed Holly off. If she could actually trust Dumbledore with her the truth, with her new home, with her life.

She had to know.

"Holly… I don't like this." Hermione gripped tight to Holly's arm, acting as if she were going to pull Holly back but narrowly resisting. It was only the respect of her friend that kept Hermione from stopping dead or giving them up. It was only the intense look in Holly's eyes that screamed retribution if Hermione interfered here. And- and Hermione couldn't help but think that was she was scared of that. That the intensity and the violent swirl to Holly's magic would actually turn against her. That and Hermione was just as curious. Because it was strange how Dumbledore treated Professor Lupin, stranger still how Professor Lupin reacted in turn to Dumbledore and even she could admit it.

Dumbledore led them to his office, Holly had been in it once before when she'd met Fawkes the Phoenix. He moved purposely up the stairs, and the girls followed at a distance. Followed far enough to catch the stairs without the password, but slow enough that Dumbledore was above them and unlikely to look back and down the steps. He didn't thankfully, he never looked back. Instead, Dumbledore entered his office floating Remus Lupin behind him and closed the door, sealing them outside.

Holly and Hermione stopped at the door, and Hermione instantly fell to her knees to pull the cloak off her shoulder. "Here," she offered, pointing her wand at her own head right at her ear, "listening spell, it doesn't work past wards but… hopefully, he didn't ward the door." She cast the spell, then did the same to Holly. To her, it felt like her ear needed to pop suddenly but couldn't even if she desperately wanted it. Holly narrowly resisted the urge to stretch out her jaw and do precisely that. Not as Hermione dropped onto her hands and needs and pressed her ear the door. Holly quickly followed suit, pushing back the desire to try.

"I warned you Lupin I warned you that there would be consequences for putting the children at risk-"

"I am the farthest thing from a risk-" Moony snarled, animalistic and unconvincing, "I will not harm a pup, and I assure you, Albus-"

Holly could just picture his sneer as he said the name, it was almost palpable.

"-that a werewolf who is pack is nothing on the very real and verbally abusive death eater you have teaching her!"

Hermione stifled a gasp while Holly swiftly sought her memory for the term, she knew it, Holly knew she did, but she couldn't recall it. But it sounded damning, and if Moony was worried about it, she probably should as well.

"A death eater is one of you-know-who's followers," Hermione explained in a ghost of a whisper.

"And yet you forgot your potion-"

"That poison! It does nothing but kill us both-"

"It gives you control of your wolf, my boy, it brings safety for the students and security to the parents should they ever find out what you are. Without if they will see you as nothing but a beast-"

"Their oversight-" Moony gave another sharp noise, almost a whine, but Holly thought there was something… painful in it. Her brows pinched, and she tried to see under the door, but the space was too small. "-sir, I only wanted to be there for Holly-" not cub he'd kept saying cub to her; a sick feeling sank into her chest at the change, "-she's my family, and if I die early I'd leave her without anyone again. I never meant to put the children at risk."

"See Holly?" Hermione tried to smile, "it's fine,"

"I understand that my boy." His voice was so even, like Petunia's when she was acting in front of the social worker just before the case was dropped. Like the rich man who'd paused when Petunia slapped Holly in public and had asked questions and had dismissed them after she'd used that voice. Like Vernon in front of his clients as Holly was dressed up and had been presented as the 'charity case' who needed a family and had been 'graciously' taken in. "I do understand, but don't you see? A night like tonight cannot happen again. If that had been tomorrow, it would have been a full moon, and you very well might have bitten Holly to doom her to your fate."

"I… I didn't mean for-"

Something was wrong.

"This is why you cannot have custody of Holly, it is the very same reason you couldn't when she was a child. She is safer with the Dursley's. Safer with Lily's sister. You know that a werewolf cannot have children-" Holly's face screwed up as the silence in her head grew thicker, "-the kindest thing you can do for Holly, is leave her be."

'A werewolf cannot have children?' Moony had proven to her that wasn't correct. He was in control, and he'd never once threatened her. He was good, and she was pack. Moony had told her several times that he'd not hurt humans. He had.

"Can I at least say goodbye?"

Holly's head started to ring, it felt empty, and the pressure in her ears was almost too much. But the thought, it was clear; this wasn't Moony. She knew without a single doubt in her mind that if she burst into Dumbledore's office that Moony would have chocolate brown eyes, and the gold would be nowhere to been seen. Just as she was sure that the reason for that was Dumbledore. The headmaster had somehow beat back Moony in Lupin's mind, just as he'd convinced Lupin years ago not to take her. Maybe because he really thought Moony was dangerous to her, maybe to protect his students from the 'werewolf' but to Holly, those reasons didn't matter. Holly just hated the headmaster for listening- adults- they never-

And suddenly, Holly was furious.

"No, my boy, no… leave her to rest and pack your things. "Leave before this gets out to the parents, and the Aurors come."

"Yes, sir."

Holly surged to her feet and bolted, she fled down the stairs six at a time. Moved so quickly that Hermione couldn't even react but to hiss Holly's name after her. But Holly was moving too fast to hear it. The ringing was burning at her mind, and the sensation in her ears was growing painful- everything was too quiet, unnaturally quiet. She was desperate to fill it. Holly sprinted into an empty hallway, stopped dead the moment she was alone, and screamed.

Her magic lashed out, cracked against the walls, and caused small fissures to form.

Holly had no proof but a suspicion in her chest. No evidence, but she was convinced that the reason she suffered all those years was wholly and exclusively to be dropped on Albus Dumbledore's shoulders. She was suddenly sure. Sure that if Dumbledore hadn't been prejudice, then Moony would have raised her. Convinced that if she dared tell the man the truth about the Weasleys, then she'd be immediately be sent back to the Dursley's for her' safety.' Sent there despite the abuse and the risks to her life and to her soul.

Any trust she had in the headmaster shattered, it cracked into pieces and drifted away in the wind. But Holly didn't feel better. She felt weak, felt like a little girl against the tides of adults whims.

And Hermione arrived at exactly the wrong time, with exactly the wrong words. "Oh, Holly, it'll be okay. Don't you see it? The headmaster is protecting you. It's for your safety that you live with the Durs-"

"HERMIONE!" Holly rounded on her friend as her anger surged. Like her mother before her, Holly was calm until she wasn't. And Holly could handle a lot, she had over her short life handled much of what most others hadn't. But now, she'd finally boiled over. There was no one in her head to calm her down anymore, nothing stopping her from just- exploding. Holly could hardly breathe anymore. She was cracking apart at the seams, and her friend was defending Albus bloody fucking Dumbledore. "SHUT UP!" Holly's magic lashed out violently. Hermione recoiled as thick magic lashed around them both. It was purely defensive and accidental, but Holly could no more control than her temper at that moment.

"You have no idea what they did to me!" Holly shrieked,

"Holly, you-" Hermione retreated a step in fear and guilt. She didn't understand, she couldn't. Hermione had no idea what sort of life Holly had lived. Hermione had no frame of reference for abuse, she hadn't even realized it was possible as Ron had. Partly because Holly hadn't spoken of it to her, and partly because she was just a kid… they were all only children.

Holly's hands shook as she felt a memory rush to the surface of her mind. The words, the description of it bled out of her mouth because she needed Hermione to understand, Holly needed it like she needed air to breathe. Like she needed her soulmate to be okay and with her, "Petunia used to stand over me with a hot poker from the fire. I remember it was red hot and I could feel it when she held it from my face." Holly gestured violently as the ground around them cracked, "she'd make me hold out my tongue, and then she'd hold it right there, and she'd say 'one word, you sing one little word, and you'll never sing again.'" Holly's whole body was shaking, she felt way too hot, but she couldn't stop. "I could even speak, couldn't tell her I wouldn't because that was a word. Then she'd laugh and say 'freaks don't deserve soulmates.' And I believed her!" she was- she couldn't breathe-

"Holly, you're panicking, you need to take a breath-" Hermione stepped forward then, suddenly fearless. Suddenly not worried at all that Holly would hurt her, Holly would never of that Hermione was sure.

"I was five… the first time she did it, I was five, and my elementary teacher wanted me in the choir. They taught us a song, but I only sang it once." A rock dropped beside her, the roof was breaking because of her magic, but she couldn't calm down.

Salty tears fell down Hermione's face, but they were tame compared to Holly's crying.

Where was he? Her soulmate. She needed him, but he was probably- he couldn't help her- because he was in danger right then and there was nothing she could do about it.

"Holly…"

"Dumbledore wants me with them, he wants me to go back. Hermione, I can't go back- please don't make me-" her knees cracked against the floor, and then Hermione was holding her. Everything was moving too fast and yet slow at the same time. "She'd do it this time, she'd do it because I ran. If I go back, she'll take my singing, and I'm not sure… I'm not sure I'd be able to stop her." She grabbed her head, "I can't go back." She'd sooner face Voldemort, at least he'd just kill her.

Holly's body shook with wracking anguished sobs as she completely broke down. As she spoke about what she'd suffered for the first time since Sirius while aware Hermione heard, listened, and understood. As although she didn't know it yet, she started to heal.


	9. Bloom

**TW: Torture scene**

* * *

After an unknown amount of time, that Holly didn't have the mental capability to calculate at that moment, finally uncurled her body, and rubbed at her raw eyes. She sniffled plaintively while tilting her head to purposely avoid eye-contact with Hermione; she couldn't bear the expression that she knew was there. Instead, Holly slowly glanced to the side and dearly hoped Hermione wouldn't ask for details because she highly doubted she could give them at that moment. Accurately to Holly's assumption, Hermione, in that very moment, was biting her lip as if to stop herself from doing precisely that. Holly appreciated the effort, she knew how much Hermione deeply desired to know everything and every detail.

Sniffing slightly, Holly swiped a hand across her face to brush away the tear tracks; her eyes stung as she did so, they were raw from the crying she'd been doing. Every blink ached slightly, but Holly still felt oddly… better. She felt like a weight had been lifted from her chest. Holly lifted her fingers and pressed them to her chest and made a soft noise. Well, it might have been the crying, or it might be because suddenly she felt whole.

"Oh dear," Hermione followed the trail Holly's hand made across her chest, watched as her hands settled directly in between her rib cage and she knew, "you've caught up to time,"

Holly pulled her hand away alarmed, "but Pomfrey will-"

"No, no, it's fine." Hermione soothed, "we'll just have to sneak into the infirmary and then travel back to the exact point we left. No one should notice… that, and we still have to speak to Ron. We'll have to tell him to tell me to travel and grab you… basically, we have to close the loop we've created."

"Alright," Holly stood up and swiped at her face one final time to catch the drying tears at her chin, "lets hurry then." Holly didn't watch to travel back more than she had to, the muted connection to her soulmate was brutal enough for an hour, she did not want that to last any longer if she could help it.

Hermione shook her head, "time-turners only fall back in hour increments, we'll have to be in the infirmary exactly in an hour to go back to know. Otherwise, we'll have to wait longer than that." Holly made a face but nodded her understanding. Hermione would know better, considering she'd be using the nasty thing for a full year.

"Do we know where Ron is right now?" Holly glanced at the mess she'd made in the hallway. Her accidental magic had cracked some of the walls and the flooring in the thankfully empty hallway. There were no witnesses to the event either, only Hermione, due to the lack of paintings in that one stretch of hall. Still, it would be better not to leave evidence of their travel. Holly pulled out her wand and cast several repairing charms on the nearby stone. Hermione was swift to copy her thankful they could for once use magic to do what Filch always made them to wandless.

"He was playing Chess I believe. We'll have to catch him as he heads up to the common room." Which gave Ron three hours to tell Hermione to travel back, and them one hour to get Holly back to the infirmary. Merlin, Hermione's head was already hurting from all the traveling they'd done and were going to do. There would be multitudes of her running around soon, and she badly needed to keep track of them and where she'd be.

"Yo ho ho ho, Yo ho ho ho~" Holly suddenly sang and Hermione gave her a surprised look. To that Holly just shrugged, "I've caught up with my time… I was just checking, but he's still unconscious."

Hermione nodded along as the last of the wall settled into place, before she did a slight double-take, "wait, how do you know he's unconscious?"

Holly's nose scrunched up. How did she? The simple answer was that since he wasn't singing back and had been in some manner of danger, she'd assumed he was likely knocked out. But the more complicated answer was… she just did. Like how she knew her connection was no longer muted, she knew he just wasn't conscious. It was like she knew exactly how to move her body to catch the snitch or how a spell would just work that time she cast it instead of all the failures before. Perhaps it was because she'd now felt the change in her connection, she knew what it was like to be muted, and the slight differences in it now were more pronounced but… she knew.

Would she know when he woke? That, she decided, would be an exciting thing to discover. Regardless, Holly gave Hermione the simple answer because she didn't want to get into yet. "I just assumed since he didn't respond yet, and my magic reacted to some danger he was in."

Hermione acknowledged the comment, and the girls moved on. Together they crept through the halls after tossing Holly's cloak back on. They moved silently, but swiftly to locate Ron where ever he may be. As they did Holly's mind wandered to Moony. To the distinct awareness that he was leaving, and she wasn't chasing after him. Holly didn't want to analyze that, didn't want to know why she was avoiding the man who should have been her god-father. Not even ten minutes before, she would have rushed straight for his classroom and would have pushed meeting with Ron to after. Now, she wasn't.

Still, even if Holly didn't want to analyze the why, she did. It was because she couldn't bear it if Moony denied her after promising he wouldn't leave her. Couldn't face it even if it was happening. Moony had told he wouldn't leave, said to her that Lupin had ignored him, and he'd explained why he'd never come to her. She believed him, believed that his words had been the truth. She loved Moony for that; in mere hours she decided she loved him, that he was her family but he…

Holly didn't trust him.

She didn't trust Moony to keep his eyes golden. Didn't trust Remus Lupin not to push Moony back and away and abandon her again. She didn't trust Moony to maintain control. Couldn't put her faith in more people and be let down again and again. So Holly wasn't running after Moony, or Remus Lupin, or whoever was currently in control. She couldn't put her hopes on anyone else or to be disappointed time and time again.

"There he is!" Hermione hissed out a breath, and Holly refocused.

One thing at a time, she just one to do one thing at a time.

"Hermione? Holly? What are you- oi don't grab! What's going on?!"

* * *

"Why are you skulking here?"

Ron tensed up and shot a look up and back in alarm. He'd been hoping against hope he was wrong, but he wasn't. He'd been caught by the worst person- okay, the second-worst person he possibly could have. Merlin, he really should have taken the cloak with him but, but the girls would need it in the past, so Hermione had to have it. Which meant he couldn't use it and there, he'd been caught as she'd said, 'skulking.'

"Parkinson." He hissed, shooting a slightly paranoid look at Lupin's classroom, "go away!"

Her brow arched, damned Slytherin's, you couldn't hide anything from them, and now he'd made her curious. "No, really… why are you hiding outside Lupin's class?" a smirk grew across her beaut- stupid face. "Perhaps because you Gryffindorks finally realized what he was?"

Wait, the Slytherin's knew?

"Stop giving me that face," she loosely played with her wand, Ron hadn't even seen her pull it. "Of course we knew unless that's not what you're doing? Well, then let me just go get professor Snap-"

"Wait, don't!" Ron jerked forward and snatched hold of Pansy's arm and yanked her back. She squawked in protest even as the skin under Ron's hand drastically warmed. This was the first time he'd ever touched her, and it felt… different. Not like Hermione or Holly. It was, he liked it in a way he couldn't explain.

"Let me go!" she swatted at his hand, not bothering with her wand like any proper witch should which Ron was grateful for.

"Shush!" he covered her mouth, mind frantic for a reason to give her that wouldn't involve the truth. How did he stop the Slytherin from going to Snape- wait, she was a Slytherin. He'd just have to- "you owe me one! And I'm calling it in."

Pansy swatted his hands off her mouth and gave him a near-silent snarl, but it was quiet, so Ron was relived. She was listening at the least. "I owe you nothing!"

"well- well, you owe Holly! And I'm calling that in-"

"Favors don't work like that!"

"It does for Gyrffindor's!"

"Oh please!"

"Parkinson," Ron urged, "please… just, don't tell anyone I'm here!"

Pansy stared him down, unaware that she was practically pressed against him, and she hadn't pulled away yet. Deep down, she could admit that she liked it, deep deep deep down. "Only if you tell me why." And it killed her to admit this, "Lupin is the best defense professor we've had, so I'm not going to let you Gryffindorks mess with him, especially not close to the-" she cut off disgruntled.

"Full moon?" Ron finished finding himself pleasantly surprised. He hadn't realized the Slytherin's actually liked their defense professor. He'd thought for sure they'd turn Lupin the moment they learned what he was.

"So, you do know." Pansy drawled, finally finding it in herself to pull back. This was dangerous, she shouldn't be this close to Weasley. Pansy had done a lot to ensure he didn't recognize her voice, especially her singing voice during Divination. Yet now she was having an extended conversation with him. It was a mistake, but it was one she was leaning into. "Not as stupid as I thought you were."

Ron felt his skin heat in embarrassment because he hadn't, Hermione had, and she'd let them know. Of course, he wasn't going to tell Parkinson that he didn't want her to have any more ammunition to use against him, "surprised you knew and didn't turn him the moment you found out."

"Please, we aren't all Draco-"

"Don't you mean," Ron posed and fluttered his lashes before pitching his voice to fake-swoon, "Draco~."

Pansy snarled once more and swatted his shoulder hard. Ron winced back, she had a mean swing. That was another girl that did, they were a scary breed, females. "Ouch, watch it!"

"You take it back!"

"Take what back? You're always like that around Malfoy!"

They'd gotten terribly off topic Ron realized distantly, but he was… he was rather enjoying it. Parkinson was enjoyable to chat with, even if they were just arguing and bickering with each other. Unknowing, Pansy was actually finding it the same, she was having… dare she say it, 'fun.' "Of course I'm like that, he's bloody rich, and my father works for him. Not to mention my father is allied to his, not that I'd expect you to understand that. Basically, if Draco decides to start a feud with me like his father did yours, you can say goodbye to my status!" Pansy felt her skin heat; she hadn't actually meant to say that, but… well, too late now.

"Oh… well…" Ron hedged slightly, "well, why didn't you give Lupin up?" even he'd thought about it for a moment, especially with how much the man focused on Holly. He'd only resisted because of Lupin's defense of Holly during the Boggart.

"Like I said, he's a good professor. Which!" she pointed at him, "brings us back to the point, why are you lurking outside his classroom?"

Ron frowned unsurely, he definitely couldn't give her the full truth but… a small one? "Heard a rumor that Dumbledore fired Lupin, I'm… checking." There, honesty without the whole truth and involving Holly and Hermione. The girls had been clear to avoid that at all costs, which is why he was sneaking around and watching Lupin's door instead of actually going in to check his eye color. The color Holly had been quite intense about, making him promise four times over to ensure if it was brown or gold. Though, Holly also hadn't seemed like she wanted to know what color Lupin's eyes were either. That was something he'd have to ask her about later once this had blown over somewhat.

"He what?!" Pansy hissed, moving closer to him once more, "why?!"

"Want the party line?" Ron commented while quoting his brothers.

"I want the truth!… and the party line." It was essential to know the full rumor, after all, she wanted to know what people would say and the truth.

"Dumbledore thinks Lupin is a danger to the school," Ron said, eying the door, but that was the party-line, Ron was confident that wasn't the truth. Sure it might be somewhat involved, but Ron knew the real truth was something the girls didn't want to know yet. Because Hermione still trusted Dumbledore, and because Holly had enough to deal with.

"He decided this randomly? After an entire year of Lupin teaching without incident?" Pansy was skeptical, but she was also a Slytherin, there was no way that was it. There had to be more. If there wasn't, she'd eat her wand. "As if."

"Hm," Ron continued to stare at the door as he tested Parkinson, the girl who was very likely his soul- "did you know Lupin was close to the Potter's? Like, god-parent close." He glanced up and to the side at Pansy, whose eyes went a bit wide.

"No, wait- he's a- no one-" her mind jumped quickly, looking at that comment through a Slytherin's eyes. Because Lupin was a werewolf, and if anyone discovered that then, he would be hunted down. There was no way the 'light' would allow Lupin anywhere near the girl-who-lived. They'd sooner put Lupin in Azkaban and say it was because he was a werewolf, and no one would argue either. It made sense that Lupin hadn't been in Potter's life before this, it made sense why Potter hadn't recognized or acknowledged Lupin either-

"But Dumbledore invited him to the school," Pansy said quietly to herself, thinking quickly, moving along the same path Ron had. Because Ron did strategy and when the girls told him he'd followed the path backward, wondered why Dumbledore would do that. He'd followed that path and come to a frightening conclusion. And if Pansy came to it to then- then it would be scarier yet. "Why would he fire Lupin now? If he hired Lupin aware he was a werewolf, then he trusted Lupin not to hurt anyone so…"

Pansy's eyes went wide, "did he tell Potter?"

"Tell her?" Ron tried to ask stupid even as his stomach sank, she'd come to the same conclusion, she was going to prove he wasn't completely mad-

"Don't act stupid! If you know Lupin was close to her parents, that means Potter knows, which meant Lupin tried to reach out… If Dumbledore fired him now, that means that…" her eyes locked with his, "Dumbledore fired Lupin to keep him away from Potter!... does she know?"

Pansy trusted Dumbledore as far as she could throw him. Any other Slytherin was the same. It was built into them, spoke about from even before Hogwarts then emphasized by their head of house. Dumbledore was biased, he was a Slytherin at heart and yet hated them. That was what their head of house said managing to offend the stupid and make the smart think. Because if the leader of the light, the head of Hogwarts, and Supreme Mugwump was a Slytherin… well… it sort of made sense. After all, he did possess a great deal of power, more so than any of their parents certainly. And with that much power, the sheer amount of shady under-dealings the man could manage without anyone blinking because he was considered 'light.' Well, it was a scary thought. So no, Pansy did not trust Dumbledore. No one in their right mind should. But to hear that same mistrust hidden deep within a Weasley's tone… that was unfathomable, and it filled her with an enormous amount of hope.

"She only suspects," Ron pulled Pansy from her thoughts with a half-answer. He looked away from her, eyes intent on Lupin's door, and Pansy suddenly saw a path open to her. It wasn't sketched out yet; it was like an animal trail in the woods, but it existed, and Pansy latched onto it near desperately.

"He's unnaturally focused on her Weasley," Pansy said testing, "he's always watching her, it's creepy. And now this? Tell me you don't see anything wrong with this?" Pansy stared Ron down, demanded with her expression alone to tell her a lie. Because Ron had noticed, she knew he had, but how far did it go? How little trust did the 'golden trio' really have in Albus Dumbledore? This was… this was exactly the chance she'd been looking for, precisely the future she believed before today to be impossible.

Admittedly despite her last name, Pansy and her family were not loyal to the dark lord. Not anymore. Pansy's father was marked in multiple ways by his foolish choices made during his teenage years. These decisions led him to bend down on one knee before a madman and gained a tattoo he'd never be rid of. Pansy's father had blackened their names, had been part of a number of fools that had decimated their people's numbers. He'd been drunk on power from a lord of magic, had performed rituals he still a decade later needed to cleanse from. He and their family had zero trust in anyone except for those who'd also followed the Dark Lord. He'd gotten out easily.

Pansy's father had managed to escape Azkaban following, by sheer luck, the example of Lucius Malfoy who had been under trial before him. He'd escaped that hell of a prison and steadily began to realize the folly of his youth. He'd learned a lesson that those within Azkaban mentally couldn't. That he'd made a mistake. A mistake that sometimes caused him to lash out emotionally because of the black magic seeped into his body from the Dark Lord's not-optional rituals. An error that caused his hands to shake so severely from cruciatus damage that he couldn't hold Pansy when she'd been born until his muscle spasms stopped. A mistake that caused him to sit her down a very young age after she'd copied the staunchly loyal propaganda that Draco had spouted about Voldemort.

Gently and firmly, Pansy's parents had explained the difference between a leader… and a madman. The difference between black magic and dark magic and what the former did to the body. Gently explained why the unforgivables were unforgivables for a reason and what sort of damage they did to a person, both caster and receiver. They'd been brutal but efficient. And now Pansy could say quite confidently that she was a Slytherin and a dark witch. She could also say, if the Dark Lord returned, her father would be killed, and Pansy swiftly removed from the country by her mother unless there was no other option.

Regardless, the chance Pansy hadn't ever expected to come from Ron Weasley, her apparent soulmate, was quite simply due to compatibility. A dark and light couple rarely worked out, soulmate or no. That and the Weasley's were blood-traitors who had forsaken their own ways. The Weasley's whose ancestors caused the Malfoy's - one of the Parkinson's allies - to never bear more than one child for the rest of eternity. Sure there were two sides to every story, but Pansy was well aware as a Malfoy ally she only needed to know that half. But… If Ron was a gray wizard and was at least neutral as this was implying, she could nudge him onto a slightly darker path. It was entirely possible that they could work out.

The very idea was foreign and incredibly appealing.

"To be honest, Parkinson…" Ron lifted his face to gaze at her, "I think it goes a little bit deeper than just watching, but I- we don't have proof. We don't have any proof of… anything, so… just… leave it be."

Absolutely not. Pansy could not leave this be, not with her soulmate, Potter, and Granger could be… turned. Not dark, but perhaps not beacons of light either. She could show them another path, pull them onto a gray path with her. No one in Slytherin even realized it was possible, but here Ron was giving her a chance. And… and if she succeeded, her parents may not be as opposed to Weasley and her matching up. She just had to- to find proof of Dumbledore's misdeeds toward Potter. She just had to turn the paragon of light, a muggle-born, and a Weasley onto a gray path.

Not as impossible as she'd initially thought. She just needed to figure out what sort of misdeeds Dumbledore had done to Potter, starting with this. Because there had to be a reason Dumbledore was keeping Lupin from Potter and it wasn't because the man was a werewolf.

Pansy squatted beside Ron and turned her eyes to Lupin's door. Ron shot her a displeased look, but it didn't have heart in it. "We're waiting for Lupin to leave, right? To see if the rumor was accurate?"

'Among other things,' Ron thought, "yeah."

"Good. Consider me involved." Pansy settled in a comfortable spot, felt her arm brush Ron's. This time she didn't pull away; physical contact was essential to begin cultivating trust.

Ron shot Pansy a look, feeling uncertain. He'd always been told by his siblings to trust Slytherin's only as far as you could throw them but then… Pansy had helped. She'd suspected just like he did that Dumbledore's intentions weren't all that black and white. That the man had entirely too much focus on Holly, and she didn't even know any of the stuff Ron did about Holly's guardians. But still… she was a Slytherin. It was different, her knowing to keep a secret and her being involved.

Ron wasn't entirely sure he wanted her involved at all, nor was he sure he had a choice. He'd learned from Hermione, Holly, and Ginny, that once girls had their minds set on something that very little would deter them. He was sure Pansy was the same-

"He's coming!" Pansy shoved a hand on the top of his head, and she pushed him down and back. She shoved him out of sight and joined him around a corner before peaking out carefully toward Lupin's door. Pansy ended up above him, hands on his head, as she leaned over his form to stare the door down. Ron balanced narrowly with his hands on his knees, and Pansy pressed into his back as he too looked at the Defense classroom. Together they watched in absolute silence as Lupin stepped out meekly. Behind him, a suitcase was dragged, and Ron felt his heart sink as Lupin glanced around the area.

As Holly requested, he carefully observed Lupin's eyes, and nothing was different - they were a chocolate brown as always. Somehow Ron knew Holly would be upset when he told her that, but he had no idea why.

"So, it's true," Pansy whispered as the man turned his back to them and shuffled off. "He really did get sacked… bugger, we didn't even reach exams yet." She lifted her wand as she said this and flicked the end in a counter-clockwise swirl. Under her breath she cast a spell, and Ron watched a light of lilac shoot off and strike Lupin's suitcase straight on before disappearing.

"What was that?" he asked, shoving her off him as Lupin rounded the corner and vanished.

Pansy brushed off her front unbothered by the removal, "tracking charm, a rather simple one that my mother taught me."

"Why would you need that?" Ron's brows pinched, and Pansy scowled at him.

"The unfortunate benefit of being female. Look, sometimes we need to know if someones following us and that spell helps." Ron was still clueless, and Pansy dismissed it; none of the Slytherin boys understood either, though the girls all did. "Anyway, the spell will let me know where his suitcase is. I assume you'll have such need for that information moving forward?" Gryffindor's really didn't plan ahead, the man was close to Potter and being kicked out. Obviously, they'd need to locate him again. The tracking charm would help if owls didn't reach the man as Pansy suspected they wouldn't. You needed a proper address for that after all. Owls weren't all-knowing unless they were a familiar.

Ron tilted his head, still confused before he shook it out, "so you know where Lupin will be?"

"his suitcase at least," she corrected. It was much easier to track an item on hand than have the spell land physically on the person. It would be noticed, especially by a werewolf. "But yes."

"Right…" he wasn't if that was a good thing or not, he hoped he wouldn't have to go to Pansy for that information. Just as he wasn't sure he wanted her involved or not. He still wasn't even if she'd made herself so. And as a result, a slightly awkward silence fell over them. Ron stared everywhere but her while Pansy realized she'd overstayed her welcome. If she wanted to turn Weasley, she'd have to do it slowly. Nothing was gained by rushing after all, her aunt had always told her that.

"Right well, I'm off to let people know and study," she sighed, "once again, we'll be doing exams without our professor, joy" Pansy turned on her heel and without so much as a goodbye marched away. She did her best not to glance back, she really did.

"Bye, Parkinson."

And felt her cheeks heat, did she respond? Did she? Bugger- "bye Weasley, till next 'skulk.'" She rounded a corner, hearing Ron's surprised laugh following after her and felt her cheeks heat more.

Oh yes, she was in danger.

* * *

Whispering around him, just whispers but it made his brain pound. Shanks internally swore, exhaled, and went to move his hand. He was suffering the hang-over from hell and wanted the voices to shut the fuck up. But when Shanks went to shift his hand and found it came up short. He reached a point, and something wrenched at his wrist, stopping him cold.

Shanks' eyes snapped open, and he instantly regretted it. He swore loudly. Shanks clamped his eyes shut to drown out the light trying to kill him, then tried to reach up to cradle his head, but once more, he couldn't get his arms to move. They were pinned by… something.

"Shanks!" Buggy's urgent voice sounded somewhere from his left, and Shanks's fingers twisted to discover what was blocking him. One of his fingers was catching the hint of metal. This seemed important, but his hazy mind was having trouble understanding why. "Shanks, listen to me, you need to be quiet."

"The hell- why?" he tried to crack his eye open again and managed it slightly. It hurt, but he managed. He regretted doing that as much as trying to open them at all.

He was surrounded by men and women; they were crowded brutally in a tiny wooden hold with a barred door. Shanks could barely move without touching someone, and in fact, he was mostly pressed into Buggy on his left, while on his right was a large teen with a pointed nose and a missing tooth who glared his way when Shanks so much as glanced at him. Waking up pressed against Buggy was horrifying enough of a thought, though Shanks doubted he could ever be that drunk. The truth was, however, far worse. Because every person he could see had the same accessories. A collar around their neck, shackles at their wrists and ankles. All metal that led to chains that bolted into metal pegs behind each person.

The connection was there. It was there, but Shanks didn't dare make it.

"Shanks." Buggy's face swam in his vision as he managed to finally crack his eyes entirely open. He was not thinking about what was happening. Not thinking about it. "You have to be quiet-"

"Why." He demanded again, not quietly at all. Buggy had a black eye, a purple bruise covering his face's right side, and his lip was split open. It looked painful… and Shanks was reasonably sure he hadn't had that mark when they'd been- nope, not yet, not ready for that thought yet.

_"Can you hear me? I can sense you're awake."_

What…? Shanks' mind tried to translate his soulmates' words in his head but found it challenging. Everything was. Thinking was plain painful, gods, how hard had they hit him? He knew there wasn't actually a tune to go with the words which was bizarre, that hadn't happened before… had he been drugged?

"Shanks… look at me." He tried, he honestly did, but Buggy was really fuzzy, and Shanks found he couldn't focus. "You have a concussion."

"Makes sense," he slurred, "you're… really fuzzy… why are we being quiet- muph-" Buggy covered Shanks' mouth to shut him up. Easier than just telling him, except not. Shanks wrenched away from Buggy's hands, flailed when he moved too fast, and the world spun until he slammed into the brutish teen on his right. The teen sneered, and Shanks mocked right on back. 'Try me,' Shanks expression said because he was very much done with this situation. He wanted a drink, his bed, and… to calm down his soulmate. She sounded a bit panicked.

Everything was fine, though. It was fine. Shanks had control here.

The teen slammed his shoulder into Shanks, and he cried out, swearing loudly at the sudden unexpected pain that rushed him. Buggy rushed to cover his mouth to silence the noise, but Shanks hardly noticed. Son of a bitch, his shoulder was not meant to go in that direction, right? "His shoulder is dislocated, you bitch!" Buggy was whispering angrily, "if you want me to keep him quiet maybe don't-"

"The moron will get us all killed, too rebellious this one. Better to get rid of him now."

_"-maybe you can't hear me. Is it different if I sing: Yo ho ho ho dammit!"_ His soulmates face snapped-sang in his head, and Shanks hissed, she was really freaking out, she never swore.

"Yo ho ho ho." He managed to get out before he turned toward the bitch to his right, "you're going to regret that."

The teen scoffed: "No, red-hair," the man returned casually, "I really won't.

What did he mean by that? Shanks shot the teen a dark look even as his brain slowly took in the situation despite Shanks desperately wanting to remain ignorant. The nameless fool was also wearing a collar, and his arms were chained to a peg behind him. A bolt with multiple sets of chains attached and some of it was moving toward him and nope- not thinking about that. Instead, he just glared at the fool even with his soulmate singing rather proper songs in his head. How she was finding some with the exact words needed to ask him precisely what she wanted was currently a mystery. It was almost like she was just singing her questions, which was impossible.

"Won't you?" Shanks dared, eying the distance between them almost bored. It would be a minor thing to reach out and tackle the moron, and if pushed far enough, Shanks would do it. Then again, Rouge always did tell him to think carefully about what sort of fights he started. She cautioned firmly that they should always be prepared to win any battle they started. Of course, she typically said that while pounding a man into the ground for something as simple as insulting her hair color. Between the two of them, Roger was the more difficult half to be pressed into an actual fight. Shanks did try to follow their example… he tried anyway. "Because as far as I can see, I can kick your ass three times to the Red-line even with a dislocated shoulder." He didn't bother to lower his voice like the teen had, and that was his first mistake.

The teen, in response to that, only smiled even as Buggy winced. Collectively the other people around them cowed back, they knew something, all of them did, that Shanks didn't. He learned what was causing the event a mere moment later though. The door across from them suddenly slammed open, and just about everyone jumped. People flinched back as Shanks turned toward the new threat. This one, at a glimpse, was far more dangerous.

The man that stood in the doorway scanned the room slowly. In his hand was a set of keys, reckless that Shanks internally thought. It wouldn't be overly tricky to snatch them and break out; the only issue would be his chained hands and the sheer amount of muscle the man had. He was… built. Physically powerful, and he radiated confidence. Shanks still thought he could take the man.

"Which one of you was it."

Buggy's hands clenched on Shanks' good arm, hopeful that maybe that no one would say, a fool's hope. One always looked out for themselves on the sea. For, all at once, fingers pointed his way. They and the teen at his side gave Shanks up in an instant, and Shanks braced himself. He shrugged off Buggy's arm, distanced them because to grab those damned keys, he'd need some manner of distance despite being chained. At the same time, Shanks quickly tested his field of range with the chains, he didn't have much, he'd have to get the fool down to Shanks level. He'd knock out the knees first, then use the chains to hopefully choke the fool out, followed by grabbing the keys and escape in that order.

He could do it.

Shanks shifted his body pushing up so he was perched on the balls of his feet while the slaver- damn, he'd finally acknowledged it - narrowed his eyes. Then he smirked and slowly approached. The slaves, they parted like the clouds itself when Roger had dueled Newgate. They skirted back as quickly as they could. At his side, Buggy shot a panicked look between him and the slaver, near inaudible noises or distress escaping his lips. The teen on the opposite side was smug, and Shanks smothered his irritation over it.

_"Come on, hear me please. Tell me whats happening prove that Moon- was right."_

He didn't have a song for her, he couldn't think of a single word as the slaver approached, so he sang randomly. "Can you hear me, S.O.S," it was a song he was rather sure he'd heard Rayleigh sing or perhaps it was someone else. Regardless it served his purpose as the slaver stopped close by but out of damned range. Shanks didn't have the range to grab the keys where he was, and kicking out was equally pointless due to the shackles Shanks had only just noticed at his ankles. He needed the man closer.

"What's up, ugly." Shanks randomly taunted as Buggy's face lost all color, except for the red of his nose that was.

"You're alive, but what are you responding too?" His attention split slightly at that because that was once again all words, but no, he had to focus. And it was great timing on his part too, for the man suddenly surged forward. Instantly Shanks kicked out as the distance close, his heel cracked against the man's knee, and he dropped. Shanks reached out like a chained beast clawing at whatever skin he could reach. It wasn't pretty, but he was a damned pirate; Shanks had no intention of fighting pretty, that was for Marines. It was a mad scramble on Shanks' part, but for the slaver it was subduing a fighter something he regularly did, and the man knew to fight dirty to a degree Shanks didn't.

The hand that slammed down on Shanks' dislocated shoulder was the only part of the reason why Shanks cried out. One injury and a blow he hadn't been expecting. Shanks paused for only the slightest moment, allowed himself to feel the pain for the briefest second because it was his body's natural instinct to do. Then a hand grabbed his face and brutally applied pressure. In an instant, Shanks' head was cracked into the floor on the room, and the entire world went spinning out of control. For a moment, everything went utterly black, yet he remained conscious as his vision rebooted itself.

He felt his arms being moved, felt his shoulder wrenched on, and heard the trickle of chains as they were repositioned and pulled from the wall. Then, the shackles attached to his wrists and ankles were yanked upward. They dragged his sluggish body forward. It tripped him up, and Shanks landed hard on his still dislocated arm. He cried out in pain, but the slaver gave him no time to recover. One step at a time, Shanks was dragged from the room as he desperately tried to catch up. Shanks tried to get his hands and feet under him to stand. But every person he was pulled over or past sent him sprawling once more.

Shanks was dragged out, and the last thing he saw of the room was Buggy's terrified and guilty eyes, and the teens smug fingers waggling in Shanks' direction.

_"Pirate, soulmate mine? I have lack of words… this is harder than it seems."_

Fuck this. Shanks twisted. He forced his legs under him by sheer force of will and stepped up. He moved so quickly that his head cracked into the chin of the Slaver, it sent his world spinning again. The Slaver staggered and gave a bit off swear when Shanks' head connected into his own. But Shanks was truly the one who suffered from the crazy attack. Because the Slaver did not have a concussion, and Shanks did.

Shanks worked to shake out the fuzz from his head, but by the time the ringing had stopped, he was halfway up a set of stairs. The Slaver didn't give him a chance to recover appropriately. Not as the man dragged him to the side when Shanks finally got onto his hands and knees just so his injured shoulder collided into the nearby wood doorway. Shanks clamped his teeth and locked his jaw as he was thrown brutally into the wall. Shanks refused to scream again. Even when the chains at his hands and, by extension, his arm was wrenched on for daring to slow. The bastard was definitely doing that on purpose.

One step at a time, Shanks finally gave in to the truth; he was going to be tortured. There was no way to deny the fact. There was only one reason, perhaps two, that a slaver would be removing him from the rest of the slaves. The end of this path was death, a buyer, or a whip, and if Shanks thought about that, he'd give in to the fear, and he couldn't do that. Because Roger would find them, he'd save them, Shanks just had to wait it out or find a way to escape. And he would. He would not become a slave, Roger wouldn't allow it. But torture… this he wasn't getting out of.

_"I'm here, I'm here and I… I'm scared for you."_ His soulmates voice echoed in his head, without tune or rhythm, she'd just randomly sang words, and he'd… he heard it.

Shanks missed a step,, he tripped on a stair and slammed his shin into the wood; without the use of his hands, Shanks could not stop himself from completely falling, and the slaver didn't bother to assist. Shanks' chin cracked against the flooring, and the world spun as he choked on the pain. He wasn't given the time to adjust either, not as he was wrenched back onto his feet by his hair, and Shanks swore. He scrambled to get his feet under him lest he be thrown down the stairs or worse. The mad scramble made the bastard slaver grin as if he were getting off on this, and Shanks swore that when he got the chance, the bastard would die by his hands.

Dragged forward again, Shanks turned his mind back to his soulmate and the lack of song to her words. She'd sung words to him in actual words. It had been a sentence and not a song, a sentence in a singing voice instead of a song using convenient lyrics, and Shanks couldn't wrap his head around it. People couldn't do that. You couldn't just sing random words, you needed a song.

Didn't you?

He… he'd never tried, and he'd never asked if anyone else could do it. Was it possible they'd just missed it? That the language barrier had caused them to miss it?

_"Perhaps I was wrong… maybe he can't hear me… one more try, then… I'll know for sure. Can you hear me?~"_

Fuck, how long had she been doing that? Since he'd awoken, he'd realized, but he hadn't noticed because of the situation. Hell, it was worth the pain, it had to be worth the pain. Because if he was right then- then they could actually talk.

"I can hear you,"

"What was that?" They reached a new room, and Shanks blanched as he caught the scent of it. As he saw a single metal peg in the middle of the room, he saw the red-stained look on the wood on the room and the tools hanging off a nearby wall. Shanks took one look at the wall and caught sight of a single terrifying instrument.

He wasn't a fool, he'd seen the darkness in the world. He'd wandered the trees of the Sabaody Archipelago, he'd seen the slaves that Roger had happily released. He'd seen those same people with their tongues cut straight out of their mounts. He'd made the connection, that most slaves simply obeyed because one of the punishments for defiance in a slave, especially one owned by a celestial dragon was… was for their tongues to be-

"Did you just sing," The slaver sneered down at Shanks, and Shanks stared right back. He didn't open his mouth, didn't respond, he stared down the man rebelliously. He stared because if he opened his mouth, he'd vomit, and Shanks, by extension, would give the man access to his mouth. "Scared now, aren't ya, boy. Where's that fight gone?"

The man turned away, and Shanks felt the tiniest measure of relief, a brief moment, a split second. And then the slaver was wrenching Shanks forward, dragging him into the center of the room. Shanks was chained to that single pole, given a minuscule range of motion. He was shoved to the ground, forced on his hands and knees like an animal, and quickly found he was unable to rise. Shanks struggled, fought it, and earned a blow to the head that caused him to see stars. One more like that, and he was definitely going to be knocked unconscious, he could already feel it edging at him.

_"What's happening? Are you alright?"_ He kept his eyes forcefully closed until the world stopped spinning. Then, in the briefest whisper, Shanks sang three single words, the only ones he'd dare until he out of this man's company.

"Distract me, love."

Then Shanks forced himself up as high as the chains would allow and stared down a slaver set to torture him.

"Rebellious kid… we had a request for a kid like you. The bubbled head dick gets a kick out of breaking his slaves, has a thing for… striking hair colors." The man smiled with missing teeth, "I'll probably earn a fortune for you and your blue-haired friend." His fingers grazed across the items along the wall, all various with their use clear from the blood coating them. His hands lingered over a device that looked like a Rouge's lash curlers - and Shanks was not going to get into why he recognized it - but this item wasn't for hair it was for-… to hold a tongue, to keep it outside the mouth so someone could cut- "So that means I'm not allowed to break you, bad for business you see? Good for you song-bird. But… I am allowed to have a little fun." The man removed his hand from the device, and Shanks dared to take a breath in relief- and a boot sank into his diaphragm.

Shanks choked, his lungs spasmed violently, and he quickly learned there were other ways to stop someone from singing. Because all you truly needed to do was stop someone from breathing. And he couldn't- he couldn't breathe-

"-I should mention you'll be losing that pretty tongue of yours anyway, because my buyer… he's a dragon, and no one fucks with them. So abandon all thoughts of rescue kid." The man laughed, he kept saying more, but Shanks wasn't hearing him. His mind had frozen, his entire body had seized up, and he still couldn't catch a single breath. He was going to lose his tongue- Shanks stared at the ground, unaware of the eyes carefully observing him and his reaction, watching and judging how rebellious he was. His thoughts spiraled in terror- and then her voice filtered through.

_"Lov- no err… distract?~ Alright… song song, I need a song- oh! I've got one. 'In the morning when I wake, and the sun is coming through,'"_

No. Shanks straightened his body and bared his teeth at the slaver.

No, Roger would come, and if Roger didn't, then Shanks would get out himself. He'd survive this tongue intact, or he'd die with a song of apology on his lips.

The slaver's expression gave nothing away before he hummed, "resilient one, no matter. There's more than one to ensure you stay put." The man didn't bother with a device this time, he circled Shanks and planted his boot in Shanks' back, the man's entire weight dropped onto Shanks at an awkward angle. Shanks still tried to remain up, but eventually, he was forced down. His face was shoved into the bloodied wood of the ship, and the slaver snatched hold of Shanks' knee.

"Can't run without a leg, now can you?"

_"Oh, you fill my lungs with sweetness, and you fill my head with you."_

Shanks braced himself, he was no fool, he knew exactly what was going to happen. He focused exclusively on his soulmate while distantly aware that a broken leg would make escape… slightly more complicated- the man wrenched, and Shanks screamed.

But that was only the beginning. So Shanks lost himself, he fell into her voice. She pulled his conscious mind to him, and Shanks lost himself to his soulmate. He focused exclusively on the rise and fall of her tone, as he imagined the beat and the music that would go along with it. Water- he couldn't breathe- agony- and tried to figure out the chorus so he could sing it in return to her. Tried to memorize the lyrics because it was a sweet song, especially as he translated her words- a scream.

It was just her and him, a pirate and a witch, and nothing else matters.

_"Can I be close to you?"_

* * *

Shanks was dropped to the ground, tossed to the floor beside Buggy without care. Buggy watched it happen and dared not do anything to stop it, dared not break Shanks' fall. He didn't dare even look at the man who had tortured his only friend. All he could do was sit there as Shanks' was chained up once more, thankfully beside him. Buggy sat there as the man eyed him as if to repeat the event for Buggy instead. Sat there as the man decided against it and finally left the room.

The moment the door closed, nothing stopped Buggy from acting though. He might be a coward who let his best friend be taken but- but Shanks was hurt, and his only friend needed him.

"Best leave him; they see you try to help, and you'll suffer his fate." The man on the other side of Shanks said it, Buggy hadn't gotten his name before Shanks woke up. He was a recent capture just like Buggy and Shanks. He was also protective of his own life and had cautioned Buggy to do the same. Buggy had taken the man's advice to heart, to be quiet to not drag attention. To keep Shanks quiet by extension… if only he'd succeeded, then Shanks' would be-

"Shut up," Buggy grunted, he was a damned pirate, and Shanks was Nakama; he was going to help and damn the consequences. Or damn most of them at least.

Reaching as far as he could, he rolled Shanks looking for damage. Still, beyond the obviously broken leg, he physically looked… fine? Buggy took a closer look, no, there were strange markings around Shanks' neck, and Buggy rolled his friend to get a better look. As he did, Shanks gave a pained wheeze and flinched, and Buggy winced. He'd hoped his friend was unconscious, but it seemed Shanks' wasn't that lucky.

"fu-dislocated… -idiot…" Shanks slurred his words at Buggy, and the teen went a bit wide-eyed at that. He'd forgotten that Shanks dislocated his shoulder, and he'd moved him despite that, no wonder the other teen had flinched. That and… Shanks sounded horrible. Like he'd been screaming non-stop for days, he sounded like gravel mixed with glass, and from the expression on Shanks' face, it felt exactly like that to talk.

"What happened?" Buggy asked, fearfully staring at the mess at Shanks' throat. But it wasn't Shanks the answered.

"Best let the boy stay silent," it was a woman nearby, and she glanced away from her own chains to look at them, "the slavers don't mess with the body, they want to make a profit… but the voice, aye, that's a good way to ensure compliance."

"But- what did they do."

"You don't want to know boy, you'll not get sleep if you did... because after all, one wrong move and it'll be you."

Buggy moved to protest when Shanks shifted at his side. Despite the broken leg and dislocated arm, Shanks pulled himself off the floor until his back was pressed flush with the wall. There, he crossed his arms carefully and tucked himself in close. Shanks focused on his breathing, just taking in one breath without something stopping it halfway. Each one he claimed burned like glass poured down his throat or more accurately boiling water, among other things. Shanks hissed out a breath as the other slaves slowly lost interest in him, all except for Buggy, who was staring him down and the large one to his other side.

_"Shoot, one second!"_

His lips quirked despite everything, there it was then. They could communicate, he could sing directly to her and vice-versa and be understood. This was fantastic, she'd be able to give him her location, and they could finally meet. He could head right for her the moment he'd escaped this place.

"S'fine-" he grit his teeth. Even that one word, he couldn't manage, worse yet a half syllable didn't seem to work when communicating with her.

"Shanks?" Buggy whispered, thinking Shanks had been attempting to speak to him. "Are you alright?"

"Did…" Shanks lowered his voice drastically, testing it- but no, he couldn't get a word out. Swearing internally, Shanks traced out words on the floor instead. Carefully he wrote on the wood, Buggy watched his fingers move and sounded the words out slowly. Shanks did have to correct occasionally, but the message was generally put across.

"' Can your… soulmate… sing at you?'" Buggy read softly, "-of course, she can moron."

Shanks swiftly shook his head and instantly regretted it as it jarred his shoulder. Quickly he altered his sentence. "' No, she can-' your printing sucks Shanks - 'sing at me, without a song.'" Buggy looked up, "what nonsense are you talking about now?" Shanks jabbed the floor and added, as Buggy read out, "' can your soulmate do that?' mine?"

"Mine?" Buggy instantly flinched back. At that moment, he thought of the woman who'd enticed him off the road, the excitable girl with black curls and large blue-bell eyes. She'd smiled so kindly, so happily at him. She'd bounced in place when she'd spotted him in the street. Hopped toward him when she'd caught him singing and had rushed to say she'd heard him in her head. He'd been excited, beyond excited because he'd found her, thinking he'd actually found his before the obsessed Shanks had. Before Shanks, who couldn't shut up about his quiet little song-bird. Before Shanks, who was now fluent in a completely different language that only Roger and his odd soulmate understood.

He'd always dreamed of the woman who would be his. Picturing a gorgeous woman who loved him, who would never comment on his nose, who'd find it attractive even. A woman who'd accompany him on his pirate journeys and maybe had a circus-style ability or two. They'd want for nothing, find themselves endlessly wealthy. Who would be exactly his type and that girl had fit, she'd fit… so he'd followed her and look where it got him.

Buggy, with hurt feelings, deflected: "never mind that, what I want to know is why you were caught by that bitch too." Shanks frowned, brows pinching together. He glanced at Buggy, twisting his body so he could manage it without touching his back to his friend. "And here I thought you were all obsessed with your soulmate, and yet you got tricked by the same thing. Like a damned puppy, allowing some random girl to convince you she was yours. I guess you didn't know your girl that well now did you." Buggy might have been projecting out of guilt, might have been desperately trying to avoid thinking about his own soulmate, which he'd betrayed in his mistake.

Shanks' brow arched, hearing, despite his words, what Buggy wasn't saying. Shanks felt the hurt Buggy was feeling. He knew that Buggy was likely hoping that Shanks, for all that he spent years having his soulmate never sing, had an equally terrible connection with his soulmate. He didn't though, and Shanks refused to pretend.

Shanks slapped the floor firmly and wrote faster than before: '"My girl has green eyes, not blue. And besides, I didn't go with her, I saw her with you and followed.'"

Buggy's whole body twitched, he shot a wide-eyed look at Shanks. No. No, wait a moment, he wasn't saying that-

"' I caught up when they knocked you out and tried to save you. One of them pulled a knife on you, so I surrendered.'"

-saying that Shanks was captured because of Buggy. That all of this was his fault? That once again, everything was his fault. Buggy sneered and wrenched himself away from Shanks' form. "You should have just left me." He snapped and turned his back to Shanks. He ignored his former friend as Shanks nudged at him, trying to ask his questions again. Ignored him, because Shanks couldn't currently speak and Buggy found it far easier to ignore the other teen that way. He kept his back to Shanks until his friend gave up. Hoped Shanks didn't notice as Buggy reached up to brush the scratches along his neck that very well could have been lethal if not for- he looked away from Shanks, so his best friend didn't see the blatant guilt spread across his face.

Shanks staring at Buggy's back furrowed his brows before temporarily giving up. He was too exhausted to push. He knew what Buggy was like when he decided to be stubborn. If he wanted Buggy to abandon his 'ignoring you' phase, then Shanks would have to badger Buggy for a long time with very loud words. A volume Shanks couldn't manage at the moment. So dropping it for the moment, Shanks allowed himself to lay back in his best attempt at getting comfortable. It was awkward, the chains didn't give much room to shift, and his injuries gave even less. Not to mention he couldn't touch Buggy or the other teen less they retaliate, which he was sure they would.

Truthfully, Shanks dearly wanted to rest. But… he had noticed the rest of the slaves. Most of them weren't asleep despite the hour. Nearly all of them seemed to be putting in every effort not to fall asleep in fact, and those that were sleeping were the ones that looked new, like him and Buggy. That Shanks thought was incredibly suspicious, and he worried why that was the case.

_"Sorry, Pomfrey was checking on me and I'm really technically supposed to be sleeping."_

Her voice filtered in once more tinged in exhaustion, as she steadily sang nonsense. Shanks' soulmate spoke of lessons, of a school of potions, charms, and flying. They were all subjects Shanks mentally recognized as magical in the stories he'd read about witches. She had sung about witches before so he wasn't surprised to have her topics match. He'd ask later for more detail, of course, but for now, the topic was a comfortable one. He was also grateful that she kept singing, that she didn't stop when he stayed silent for too long. She'd heard his request to distract him, and she was.

Shanks dropped his head between his knees and took a slow, focused breath. Took in air through the pain in his throat as the ground beneath him swayed back and forth in a familiar way. Another thing Shanks didn't want to acknowledge because that swaying meant he was on a ship. If they were on board a vessel, then any escape plan grew a hundred times more complicated. Shanks was too exhausted to even begin to think about that. Instead, Shanks focused on her once more.

A world away Holly unclenched her hands from her blankets. She'd been singing non-stop since his request, and he hadn't responded. It meant she had no idea what was wrong with him, but whatever it was was terrible. Because nothing had ever stopped him from singing, not until that moment. That and… the few words he had gotten across carried blatant pain. Holly couldn't ignore the shake in his tone as he said such few words to her.

Exhaling lightly, Holly glanced at Padfoot, her god-father dog who was seemingly napping. Then she gently began to sing, quiet to conserve her voice, but loud enough that he'd hear it and focus on it and away from whatever was plaguing him. "Anyway, that's are my lessons… and… topic, topic, oh! I discovered today that I have family that truly want me." She took a breath finding it difficult to just sing the words. Her voice kept wanting to return to a proper speaking tone, and finding the tempo of her words was a challenge. Still, he was hearing her. He was. So she did her best to find a balance. "I have god-parents, two people who knew my parents, and they both actually want me... mostly" Her hands wrung, Padfoot hadn't reacted so he must truly be sleeping. She'd have to have a conversation with him soon too.

"One… he has a split personality and only one half of him… wants me." At least she hoped he did; by this point, the idea was a bit more up in the air than she'd like.

Shanks' head drooped, his eyes fluttered as sleep encroached on him. He hadn't thought it was possible, but he might actually sleep and… and it was a mistake. He knew in the back of his mind that he absolutely had to stay away, but everything- everything hurt far too much. He dearly wanted to rest, and his witch was soothing. Shanks was fighting a losing battle though, and steadily, slowly, sleep claimed him.

"-He's a werewolf, half wolf-half man." Which was something Shanks never had in his life heard of, but he accepted this as truth regardless. It was likely something from her island or a devil-fruit user. "His human side doesn't want me, but his wolf half considers me pack. The other one though… that's a bit complicated actually." Holly sang perched on her bed. Padfoot was thankfully still asleep, so she felt secure in explaining the story she'd gotten, "my parents died when I was one year old." She started slowly, speaking of the secret keeper that she'd been told about earlier. Then explained how everyone thought it was another man who betrayed her parents. Which, in reality, seemed to be another. Which meant her god-father had been falsely imprisoned and that now that he was free, he'd likely want to be involved in her life. In any way she offered.

Shanks wished he could offer comfort or ask questions as she spoke, he was madly curious about the story she was telling him. But as he was brutally reminded when Shanks tried, his throat was not up to singing. Not beyond one or maybe two choice words if he rested. Instead, Shanks focused on her story, but it wasn't long before he was having trouble listening to it. The pain in his body was not going away, it was becoming worse, and the need to sleep was only growing. While he wanted to refuse to do the latter, Shanks knew eventually that he'd just pass out entirely even if he didn't want to surrender himself to unconsciousness.

"Are you alright?" Holly sang after her soulmate when she couldn't bear the silence any longer, she was worried about him and couldn't help it. He seemed to sense it in her tone too, for he offered her a single word answer to tell her he was still there, that he was still alive.

"Tired." Shanks managed and grit his teeth against the brutal stabbing pain that followed the attempt. Then he added plaintively "hurts…" it was more a whisper than anything else, and it didn't pass over.

Holly exhaled in relief when she heard it. He was alive, in obvious pain, but he was alive. Even aware that she'd know if he died, the single words were a comfort. "I'm here… I'm not leaving, okay? I'm still here." She'd be there; it was the least she could do while he was hurting. Still, even as she said that she felt their connection shift. It wasn't an abrupt thing like what had occurred when she theorized he'd been knocked out, but a gradual one.

Holly allowed her voice to soften as she felt it, the steady lull of their connection. He was falling asleep, and she had no idea if she ought to scream-sing to stop it. But then… he had said he was tired? So was it better if he did sleep like she really should? Holly didn't know, but her inactivity made her choice for it. Within seconds he had drifted completely, Holly felt it happen. Then, and only then did Holly allow herself to fall completely silent herself. Perhaps it was time she tried to sleep as well, no matter how little she actually wanted to.

"Stay safe." Holly sang softly before lowering herself into her blankets and closing her sore eyes. She, like her soulmate, was out in mere moments. Fast asleep when Shanks, on the other side of her soul, was brutally awakened with the other slaves after a mere hour of shaky rest. It was, Shanks decided later, for the best that she went unaware of it. Because he was no longer sure if his screams would or would not pass to her, and he preferred that they didn't.


	10. Tiny Voice

**Warning: Mentions of torture.**

* * *

"Kiss me."

"Willingly, my lady." Roger reached forward and slipped his fingers under Rouge's chin, then with gentle pressure, tilted her face upward. Automatically he shifted his body and pressed into her smaller form. Reaching out with his free hand, Roger braced his weight on the wall behind Rouge. As he did, Rouge's cheeks heated, and her eyes dilated, causing him to smirk.

The two of them were hiding in an alley-way like a pair of teenagers, the thought made Rouge giggle. He grinned fondly at her, delightedly by her laugh. Rouge fluttered her lashes at him in response, a clear intent behind the look. The pair of them existed in that moment; they were two soulmates sailing the endless seas, free and wild. They could go anywhere they wanted on a whim. It was a dream, his dream, and hers. This moment was what they'd both desired from childhood, to be endlessly free and utterly in love. The only thing that could make it better was if he wasn't- but no, they didn't have to think about that now. Not now.

Roger pressed his lips to Rouge's and felt her hands sink into his hair to cradle his head. He cupped the small of her back as she did it, Rouge's eyes fluttered closed, and she smiled into his lips. In return, Roger kept his own open for a moment. He took an instant to take in her face, to memorize the moment before it inevitably ended. She was beautiful, his lovely soulmate. Her freckles, the twist of her lips, the tint of her hair, the way she held him close like he was her entire world, like he was her treasure.

Finally, he pulled away slightly. Rouge automatically hummed a few bars of one of her more favorite songs to call him back. It was something Roger was hard-pressed to resist even if he desired too. After all, by the time he met her, Roger could sing the entire thing by heart. "My lady." He grinned, boyish and youthful. "Shall we retire?"

"Oh, how daring." She laughed in return, attempting to keep a straight face, "do you think that pitiful heart of yours can handle it?" A taunt at his disease. So she had noticed it had been bothering him, damned woman. He made a face at her, spurred by the dig; a side effect of his oppositional personality, now Roger wanted to prove to her he could. So many would be scandalized she'd joke about such a thing. But those same people didn't know her or them. Because he was not offended, only encouraged, pushed forward by the comment. She dared him, and he loved a challenge.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe I can't." He pulled slowly back and saw the fine glare form in her face, she hadn't expected that now had she. He laughed in his head, victory was his once more. "Perhaps I ought to go find a new wench to fill my bed, one that can… do all the work… after all, my poor heart cannot handle the exertion." His tone slipped upward, pitched higher to copy a woman's, and that broke her.

"Ah!" Rouge's mouth opened in a circular shape, and she slapped at his chest. Neither of them could keep a straight face after that, and they both burst out laughing. "You're terrible!"

"You started it." He swooped down and scooped Rouge off the floor, he tossed her over his shoulder and gave her a light bounce. Rouge squealed in delight, pushing her hands against his chest to both grab and steady herself. "Taking shots at my heart, what a cruel soulmate I have been matched too."

"Oh, I'm the worst." She fluttered her lashes at him, "you'll have to punish me then, Captain."

"Do make up your mind Rouge, I can't be an invalid and a sadist at the same time."

"Not with that effort, you can't."

He laughed long and hard as he carried her through the streets. Rouge basked in the moment as he did, Roger was rarely so public with his affections for her. He usually kept all public displays to the bedroom or the ship. Rouge knew this was because Roger didn't want her to carry a bounty, he wanted her to find eventual peace in life after he died. He wanted her to have a future and was the one to insist on her disguises when she went into battle. Rouge personally avoided thinking about the future for as long as possible and otherwise just did as requested. She didn't mind the disguises, not when it eased his heart, not when she had much better things to focus on than an argument about it.

The two of them passed several streets, and Rouge caught sight of a few members of their crew. Some waved, others didn't notice them as they focused on what they were doing. A couple were heading toward the beach and the feast that was going to occur there once night hit. Humming quietly, Rouge pointed out: "The boys might miss us at the feast."

Rouge knew the party would be starting soon, it was supposed to be an enormous event. The crew had been excited by it, even Rayleigh, but he'd elected to remain on the ship to guard it.

"Bah, we'll send Rayleigh. He'll be happy to go, and we'll get the ship all to ourselves."

"A rare event to be sure." She reached over and pecked her lips against his cheek and the hair there. "Still, shouldn't we check on them?" Any one of them could get into trouble, it happened more often than Rouge could possibly believe.

"The crew can handle themselves." He strode onto the marina, and Rouge shot a worried glance at the island.

"What about the boys? You know how Buggy gets himself into trouble, and Shanks is hardly any better."

Roger groaned as Rayleigh, from the deck, glanced up. His first-mate was reading in Rouge's deck-chair, and as they approached, he rolled his eyes. The man started to put his book away even as Roger gave into to his lady's demands. She'd never allow him to toss her into the bed if he didn't at least check. "Very well." He turned, still holding onto Rouge, who squealed when he spun in the spot and cast his senses outward. Like a tsunami, his senses coated the island as he located his crew one by one. He ticked names off mentally, ensured every one of… them… were…

"Roger?"

His eyes narrowed, and he shot out another pulse, stronger this time, enough so that those sensitive to haki would feel it. Rayleigh and Rouge tensed at the same moment, both aware it wasn't like him to do so. His haki was strong enough to drop civilians if it was too concentrated, and they weren't attacking this island.

Roger shot another pulse and tension coiled in his body as for the third time, he failed to locate them. The cabin boys were gone. Roger twisted on the spot and released Rouge, who landed lightly on her toes, tension built in her body. She spread out her own haki to discover what was bothering Roger, but she didn't have the same reach he did.

"Rayleigh, collect the men, we're setting sail now." Rayleigh nodded sharply and darted from the ship at full speed, he wasted not a second. Rayleigh vanished into the crowds calling names as he spotted them. Likewise, the men didn't hesitate, even drunk off their asses, and in the arms of the local female or, in some cases, male population. Rouge, still confused, headed for the sails to drop them the moment she had help for the two-man job. However, she couldn't help but shoot concerned looks at Roger, who turned toward the sea.

With a sharp breath, Roger pulled his haki in, tugged it close, built it in his chest. Then, all at once, it exploded outward.

People all over the island collapsed, their eyes rolled back in their heads and their mouths foamed as they dropped on the spot. In one moment, anyone unprepared was down, and the party, as a result, was definitely over. The surge left the ship, it rushed full speed across the ocean like a physical punch. Sentient ocean life suffered the same fate as the civilians as it spread onward, as far as Roger could reach. He located a large ship already hours away and felt a flutter of pain- Shanks-

Roger swore and loudly snapped. "Faster!" in the general direction of the island. The men that heard, already on their way back, tripled their speed; the rest would be left behind. Roger spied one of the men rushing up the gangplank; the man was half-dressed, shirt hanging on one arm, and missing a boot. Clearly, he'd been involved with someone when he'd heard Rayleigh calling for them and hadn't hesitated.

"Simmons!" The man froze on the gangplank and swiftly turned his way.

"Captain?"

"Your profession before comin' aboard… a bounty hunter correct?"

"Yes, captain." He subtly pulled his clothing on right, though the shoe was still missing. In another situation, Roger would have been amused by his attempt.

"Good." Roger shot a look at the island, "someone on this island assisted in taking the cabin boys; find out who, find out where, and handle it."

Several of the crew stilled at that, several eyes raced across the deck as if Shanks and Buggy would just spontaneously appear. They didn't. They couldn't. And the rush tripled, those boys were theirs. Those boys were Nakama, and no one took Nakama.

"Yes, captain." Simmons mild expression crew harsh, and he slipped from the deck on the mission his Captain had set him upon.

Roger then glanced at Rouge, who nodded sharply and headed for the helm. The moment enough men were on deck, they'd leave, they had plenty of ground to make up. Hours, in fact, for whoever had taken the boys had escaped with them hours ago. Hours and no one, not even he had noticed.

He snarled personally offended by that. The bastards were not going to get away with it, that was a fact, a certainty.

"Hoist the colors."

* * *

Holly bowed her head to Madam Pomfrey. Nearly twenty-four hours later, the woman had finally released her from the infirmary. As a result, the sincerity she was offering to the woman was… a challenge to maintain. Holly had been stuck in bed while singing, for hours, and had become increasingly twitchy with her lack of information. She didn't know what Hermione was doing, She didn't know if Ron had caught Lupin and didn't know if Moony had regained control. And she still didn't know what was happening to her pirate soulmate.

Face twitching, she ducked her head, "Thank you for your help miss, I feel much better." She didn't. "And I'll make sure to return if I feel weak again." She wouldn't.

"See that you do." Madam Pomfrey sniffed, before moving off as if she were in a rush, despite having no patients now that Holly was free to leave.

Forcing a smile, Holly straightened and slowly started to back off. The woman wasn't stopping her. She wasn't… and Holly spun on a heel and all but fled the room. It seemed miraculously the medi-witch hadn't noticed that Holly hadn't slept a wink due to her singing. Or that her voice was beyond raspy due to the same reason. And, Holly didn't want her to suddenly click into that information. So she bolted.

Exiting the infirmary, Holly felt a measure of relief. She took a moment to close her eyes and press her back to the closed and slightly… crispy, doors. Holly stretched out her arms and basked in it. Then, she turned on her heel and marched toward the Gryffindor common rooms. Holly had missed most of her classes that day already, so there'd be no point in heading to catch the last hour of potions - and who honestly would considering the professor? Likewise, Holly had already been given food by the house-elves, so she had no need to head to the Great hall or kitchens. Therefore, Holly marched toward the tower.

The halls were empty as most of the students were in class. Holly's trainers padded at the ground, a clear sound despite the occasional voice. The silence in Holly's head was eerie. It allowed her to pick out a boy singing the Hogwarts song to himself, a pair of girls tittering about something or another, and a few hushed conversations from the paintings. It was rare for Holly to be able to pick up sounds like that with her frequently singing pirate. He had always been a constant background noise, and Holly had adjusted to that. But now that he was silent, and the castle halls empty Holly found she was picking up far more information.

She had no idea how loud her shoes could be on the castle stones. Or that her own worried heart could make noise.

"-I just don't understand it. Why fire him?"

Holly stilled. She was feet away from a branching hallway, steps away from revealing herself to someone talking around the corner. The voice made her pause because she knew it. Nasally, familiar but usually crooning about Malfoy- ah, it was Parkinson. But what were they talking about?

"It's Dumbledore; he does what he wants to the typical," answered a cool feminine voice. Holly searched her mind for the owner but couldn't recall anyone with such a tone. "A right shame though, Lupin's the most skilled defence professor we've had in years. Petra, the seventh year, you know her? She claimed he's the best in since her first year."

That shot a brutal pang into her chest. There it was then, Lupin was gone, and he hadn't said a word to her as he left. Well, she'd expected that even if it hurt. Because he… he should have been her family, Moony should have stayed, he should have been there… but he wasn't, and really had he ever been? No adult ever had really. Well, maybe the Weasley's and… Moony, when he was just Moony. But did that really count? It didn't, not when she couldn't count on him.

"Why do you think he was sacked though?" the unknown girl continued, "it can't have been because he's a werewolf?"

Wait… what? The Slytherins knew that Lupin was a werewolf? They knew about Moony? But- but then- no… what? Why hadn't they given Moony up then? Holly was sure that only Hermione knew after that essay Snape set, but if… if the Slytherin's knew then she'd might have misjudged them. Might have.

Pansy made a scoffing sound, "Of course not, Dumbledore definitely knew what Professor Lupin was. He had professor Snape supplying his wolfsbane potions. No, I think it's because of Potter."

Holly jerked backward even if the two couldn't see her. Pressing against the wall behind her, Holly strained to listen to the conversation that now suddenly involved her.

"Potter?" The other sounded confused, "why?"

"Don't you know anything? Lupin was one of James Potter's best friends at Hogwarts."

"What does that have to do with this?"

Pansy clicked her tongue in exasperation, "Black is her godfather but betrayed the family. His claim to her would have been pulled by magic the moment he betrayed his oath. Therefore, Lupin would have a claim to Potter instead!" Holly reached up and covered her mouth. Pansy was acting like that was common knowledge, but to her, it was brand new. Was it true though? Could Lupin- Moony really have adopted her… no, wait, Sirius was supposed to be innocent. So he'd stay as her godfather and maybe no one could tell? Holly didn't know, she'd have to look into it with Hermione, to find out how a god-parent in the magical world actually worked.

"In Circe's name, you think he raised her?"

"Of course not, with how the man was dressed? Please. Potter wears some pathetic clothing during the holidays, but her uniforms are top quality, Lupin could never afford that."

"They could have used her trust fund." Holly nodded along to this point, she wouldn't have minded that cost so long as she'd been raised by Moony.

Holly was well aware Moony wasn't well off by any means, one look at his robes could tell her that. But Pansy apparently had an answer for it. "Please, no adult is going to use Potter's trust to buy her clothing. The whole point of a guardian is to provide for their child." Pansy's shoes clicked on the floor; she must have shifted, "no, Lupin didn't raise Potter."

"I'll concede the point, but once again… what does this have to do with Lupin being fired and Dumbledore involvement?" Yes, Holly would rather they returned to that as well. She was dying to know Pansy's thoughts on what happened, especially since Pansy was a Slytherin.

"Merlin Daphne, do I have to explain everything?" Daphne? Oh! It was that blond girl, the 'ice princess' of Slytherin. The one who spoke to absolutely no one outside Zabini, the girl who was always glaring off into space. Holly heard Lavander say once the girl had a 'resting bitch face,' which Holly personally thought was slightly rude even if it seemed to be accurate. "Dumbledore is far too interested in Potter! Everyone's seen it, he stares at her constantly, he's obnoxiously invested in her."

"Oh." Daphne breathed, and Holly momentarily disagreed. There was no 'oh.' What did Pansy mean that Dumbledore was too interested in her? She hadn't noticed that-… had Dumbledore really been staring that much? Was he- how much had Holly missed while focused on her pirate and Voldemort?

"'Oh' is right!" Pansy agreed like a gossip, like Petunia with a piece of juicy information that absolutely needed to be passed on, "My galleons are on this; Lupin tried to pursue his claim to Potter and Dumbledore fired him to separate him from her before Lupin's claim grew too strong or the public noticed-"

Holly didn't listen to anything else. She turned straight on her heel and fled. Holly left the hallway, backtracked blindly so she could go another way to Gryffindor tower without the Slytherin girls seeing her. Her thoughts were a swirl of chaos, her feet pounding on the stone once more.

Once was a coincidence. Holly's own thoughts, paranoia and insecurity were one thing. But now two Slytherin's agreed, without even knowing the entire situation? That was another thing entirely.

Now Holly just needed to figure out what to do about the ideas put forth to her.

Left behind in the hallway, Pansy paused mid-sentence as she heard pounding feet fleeing their corridor and sighed. Daphne looked equally displeased, but then, she always did.

"We didn't get the chance to imply we'd side with her." Daphne pointed out with a hand at her hip.

Pansy clicked her tongue, "We'll have to do it later, she's spooked I think; this will have to be a long term project." She'd have to review the latter half of her staged conversation with Daphne. The second half was, as Daphne said, all implications that she and Daphne would be willing to work with Potter, to ally with her. But Potter hadn't heard it, she'd fled too early. A shame, but one Pansy could work with.

"Do you really believe she can be turned?" Daphne mused as they headed back toward the dungeons. Poor Potter had been too out of it to realize that Daphne and Pansy were absolutely in the wrong part of the castle. They had no business in that hallway except to intercept Potter herself. But that was Gryffindor's for you. They didn't notice when they'd been subtly nudged on a specific path, or manipulated to hear a particular conversation that no Slytherin would normally allow to be overheard.

"Absolutely," Pansy said with full confidence, "she's already a gray witch, she just doesn't know it yet."

Daphne didn't comment on that, but the girl didn't often speak overly much when outside the common room, so Pansy didn't mind. Pansy was instead just pleased Daphne was willing to assist her with her plans to turn Potter, then Weasley, and potentially Granger. Just as Blaise was.

"Hog-warts, hog-warts, hoggy, hoggy, blah blah."

Speaking of.

Blaise rounded the corner with a drained look in his eyes, "I hate that song," he told them plaintively.

Pansy rolled her eyes, "You didn't have to sing it." Blaise joined them on as they started down the stairs, they moved as a trio as was required by their house, "you had dozens of options, and you choose that?"

"I ran out of ideas," Blaise made a face, "you're probably right though, my lovely mate is none too pleased with my choice." He rubbed an ear, and Pansy cackled a bit. Apparently, Blaise's soulmate was now singing quite loud in retaliation to his choice. Well, it was his own fault, even if he'd done it for Pansy's plan. He really had countless song choices to go through, and he'd chosen that song?

"So, how'd it go?" he asked.

Daphne flipped her hair out of her face, "We got through the main ideas, but she left before we could let her know we'd ally with her, we'll have to stage another conversation for that."

"Best give it some time then," Blaise said, "don't want to spook her."

Pansy immediately grinned and swatted him playfully, "that's what I said!" They turned a hallway, and she added, "I think we'll start in September, let her stew for the summer."

"That'll do, as long as no one changes her mind about Dumbledore by then."

"Oh, I doubt it," Pansy thought, thinking back to Ron's comments, "I feel we'll be far better set up by September, rather than the opposite."

Blaise shrugged to that, then he changed the topic asking about their last bit of studying before their potions exam. They fell into comfortable conversation, while floors up Holly near yelled at the Fat Lady to let her in. She strode stone-faced, straight through the few Gryffindor's within the common rooms and vanished into her dorm. Holly rushed for her bed, and hurled open her curtains, and then Holly flopped onto her back. She cast an arm over her eyes and breathed.

Slowly she calmed.

"I have no proof," Holly said to herself, "So… I need to find some." She lowered her arm, dropping it to her stomach. Holly would find out the truth of Dumbledore's involvement in her life, she'd figure out what the deal was with Padfoot. Then she'd… she'd figure out a way to contact Lupin and would force him to give her the information she wanted. And… and she'd continue her plan to find her pirate soulmate…

Holly felt herself smiling slightly. A soulmate she could now communicate freely with, Merlin, no one was going to believe she could do that. She barely believed it herself, and she'd done it… though, it was painfully one-sided so far.

"I'll have to find a way to help you… until you can escape yourself." Holly didn't know what was happening to him, but she assumed he'd been captured somehow. As a pirate… maybe by the police of his world? She hoped not. Execution would be a definite concern then, and Holly obviously preferred her soulmate alive.

Reaching up, Holly rubbed at her throat. Now that she was thinking about it, her pirate hadn't sung at all that day. Holly could feel he was conscious, it was a trick Holly was pleased to be cultivating. She knew, as a result of her time-travel adventures, that her pirate was very least alive. However, she also knew that whatever was keeping him silent, was still doing it.

Holly sat up and clutching her bedsheets, "Was this how you felt?" Petunia had done the same to her, the woman had kept Holly silent for years, and yet he'd still sung at her. Had he worried she was dead? That she didn't even exist? What had Holly put her pirate through because of her Aunt's actions?

"Sorry," she whispered, unwilling to sing the word. But… she should sing something. He had asked for a distraction, and that didn't change just because he hadn't sung that day. He may not be able to ask- Holly smothered a rush of fear for that. Pushed back the idea that he'd been permanently muted- that was just paranoia, he was fine.

"You know, it's difficult to come up with a song on the spot?" Holly sang randomly, "I want to offer you the perfect song, something to ease whatever may be happening, and my mind is a blank. Perhaps Binks' Sake… or maybe Binks' sake in your language, I've been meaning to practice." She wanted to be fluent when she finally travelled to his world, no matter how far away that moment actually was.

Swinging her legs off her bed, Holly reached for her side table, which doubled as a small desk. Loosely shuffling, Holly hummed the first few bars of the familiar song while she pulled some of her books from the bottom shelf, then she tossed them haphazardly on her bed. Ensuring she had everything she needed, Holly settled back. Holly needed high scores to become an unspeakable - she required at least O's in multiple classes, ones like potions, charms, runes, and arithmancy. Likewise, Holly needed to receive a mastery and, by extension, an apprenticeship in Runes and Arithmancy. All this she'd learned from Flitwick after expressing a desire for the career path, he'd been both helpful and thorough in explaining what she'd need for the career.

For Holly, well, learning runes was almost as easy as breathing; she was a natural. The symbols just clicked in her head, they matched and worked together as if she was reading English. Holly's professor claimed it was because she was good at languages. Holly did even better than Hermione in the challenging course, which was saying something. As a result of her high grades, their professor also put her on slightly more advanced homework since 'skipping grades' wasn't a thing in the magical world.

Likewise to runes, Holly was a natural at Defense against the dark arts. The spells and magic came naturally to her even with the… professors she'd dealt with. However, the same couldn't be said for her other courses. She had an advantage in arithmancy because Holly had taken math in her Muggle schools and therefore had a boost compared to the magical-raised children. Then Potions… and Snape? Yeah, that didn't work well. Charms: well, her mother had been a natural Flickwick said, and he worked with her to ensure she was able to keep up.

After letting the last bit of Bink's sake slip away, Holly sang her thoughts, something she suspected she was going to get quite good at. "Anyway, I'm working on finding my way to you. And let me tell you, it's a challenge. Arithmancy is so difficult." Holly went off on a random singing tangent and did it absently as she set up her study material and waited for Hermione and Ron to finish their classes for the day. She had to talk to them both about the plans tentatively growing in her head.

She worked for what seemed like mere minutes but was probably close to an hour, until she heard a distant yelp. Holly shot a look at the door to the girls' dorm and glancing up through her glasses- it swung open. Standing there was Hermione holding fast to Ron's arms as his legs frantically ran in place. The charms in the girls' dorms was trying to get rid of him, the stairs had transformed into a slide for Ron only, and Hermione was attempting to pull him up them.

"What are you doing?" Holly laughed as Hermione finally got Ron into the room with her.

"Looking for you!" Hermione snapped, "and I told him I could just bring you out, but no! He wanted to come up."

"I didn't know about the charms!" Ron returned, but the heat was stolen by the way he was panting for breath, "do you think it'll alert McGonagall? That someone tried?"

"Oh, I'm sure it's perfectly fine," Hermione waved him off as she crossed the room to drop onto Holly's bed.

"I don't know about that," Ron moved forward like he was expecting spiders to fall from the ceiling, "Bill said he tried to get into the girls' dorm once, it wasn't pretty."

"What that's because he was probably trying to sleep with a girlfriend," Hermione dismissed, "you aren't doing that."

Red turned the shade of his hair, and Holly felt her own cheeks heat. She hadn't realized Hermione was so bold with comments like that- oh, no, her friend was only just realizing what she'd blurted. Well. They were just going to move on from that topic.

"Anyway!" Holly coughed into her hand as she set her books to the side, "why did you want to get into the dorms so bad, Ron?"

"Right!" Ron pointed at them, "I'm still mad at you two for adventuring into time without me. But that's not the point, I did as you girls asked and you were right. Lupin was sacked." He thought back on what Pansy had said and implied when she left, then decided not to bring it up. He wasn't sure what the girls would say about it. Oh… bugger, the charm, nevermind he had to talk about it. "Parkinson ended up putting a tracking charm on him."

"Parkinson?" Hermione blinked in surprise as Ron dropped into Holly's chair.

"Pansy Parkinson? The Slytherin?" Holly asked. That was coincidental… wait a minute, "they bloody staged that!"

"What?" twin voices echoed.

Holly waved a hand as her head shook, "I heard Parkinson and Greengrass talking about Mo- Lupin. They were discussing how Dumbledore was constantly watching me and was too invested in my life." She shot a sidelong look at Hermione who had her thinking face on, then to Ron, who was… unsurprised? "They think Dumbledore fired Lupin because he was getting too close to me."

"Parkinson said the same to me, and if I'm being honest, I… sort of agree with her."

"You do?" Hermione's hair swung in a arc as she twisted to face Ron, "why?"

Ron fumbled slightly, "It's instinct I guess? He does watch Holly an awful lot, and there was that whole… thing in first year, and… well, I know you're smart Hermione, but don't you think the protections on the stone were odd? They were far too simple considering it was meant to keep you-know-who out, and they were all first-year stuff! It was basically designed for a first-year. Also! The basilisk, how come no one realized what it was before you? It's been fifty years since it first appeared and no one thought 'snake?'"

Obviously, he'd given it more thought than Holly had, however now that Ron was pointing it out… he had a point. Not to mention there was the suspicious past with Sirius, which she'd have to speak to the man about and soon.

"I… well, they didn't have all the clues." Hermione tried.

Holly made a face and Ron heaved a breath unwilling to make into a fight, "it's just suspicious is all. There's no proof but… it's suspicious."

"There's also…" Holly hesitated a moment, but no, she might as well just say it. "well, Parkinson mentioned something about magic, god-parents, and oaths?"

"That I don't know about," Ron said, "that's old magic stuff, mum doesn't want me to learn about that. But… we can? Maybe it'll help shed some light on this whole thing?"

"We should get some, we should find out the truth."

Ron and Hermione exchanged a look, then they nodded. "But we'll have to be careful," Hermione told them both, "Dumbledore is… powerful, and he's clever, he's the only one you-know-who feared, and that's for a good reason."

"We will be… and we can probably recruit the Slytherin's to help. They'd know about that old magic stuff-" Ron suddenly clapped a hand over his own face as if horrified he'd even suggested what he just had. But… well, Pansy already implied she was willing. And while they couldn't trust the Slytherins, they could try and use them. Besides, who else would believe them about this but Slytherin's?

"Why Ronald, I didn't know you had it in you," Hermione teased, "but yes, that's an excellent idea. Not Malfoy, of course, but Parkinson and perhaps Greengrass?"

"And Zabini," Holly added in her own two sickles, "he's often part of their group."

"Agreed." Hermione linked her fingers together and leaned forward, "now, shall we talk about the whole Sirius Black thing next?"

"The what?" Ron asked as Holly blanched.

"Lets not." Holly threw her head into her hands and buried into them slightly; she badly wasn't ready for that conversation yet.

"Oh, lets," Hermione pushed on, "apparently your brother was right, Black is innocent and masquerading around as Holly's pet."

"First." Ron held up a hand in distress almost as if warding her off, "Fred was right? That's one thing, but Padfoot? Padfoot is Black?!" Ron shot a look between them, and Holly just groaned. They were going to get into it then. Which meant they were also going to have to get into the whole 'Padfoot killed a man right in front of them' thing. And the whole 'Padfoot the dog/man had been sleeping at the end of her bed for months. It was going to be a disaster.

Ron, however, surprised her. As the next thing out of his mouth was actually: "Where is Padfoot?"

Which was frankly an excellent question. The dog hadn't been spotted since the night before when Pomfrey kicked him out.

"He'll turn up, he's probably pranking someone," Hermione mused. Which again made sense; it must have been Padfoot messing with their potions professor all year. "Or he followed Lupin…" she hoped it wasn't the latter, they needed information from the dog before he left.

"Alright, so… we…" Ron reached up and pressed his hands to his temple, massaging the spot, "Holly, honestly, your life sometimes." He heaved a sigh, "so to recap: your dog is actually an innocent escaped prisoner, killed the actually guilty man, and… is living as a dog now. Dumbledore might be manipulating your life or worse, and we're going to work with Slytherin's to find out. Lupin is…?"

"Lupin has a split personality," Hermione helpfully put forth. "And officially out of reach."

"Right… that, anything else?"

Holly felt a measure of pleasure knowing she'd distract both her friends with what she had to add to that collection of chaos. Smile fixed, she sat forward and said, "I can sing regular words, and my soulmate can hear me quite perfectly. Also, I can sense when he's awake, unconscious, or sleeping."

This time both Hermione and Ron snapped their heads around to her, and Holly felt her smile widen. There was the reaction she had been hoping for.

"Like… rap?" That came from Hermione. Her hands were positively twitching in curiosity, and there was a light in her eyes that made Holly decidedly nervous. "Regular words but in song, with rhyme? Like rap?" Her eyes darted to her bed, where she had several notebooks hidden away. Hermione couldn't help but study soulmates and their properties, it was a topic that always excited her ever since she'd first heard a voice in her head.

Hermione remembered the first time she'd ever heard her soulmate or the first time she remembered hearing him anyway. She'd been five years old and doing a play for the school. She had been standing on stage with dozens of other children, had been at the back because her voice wasn't the best and she'd been taller than the other children. For months she'd been practicing the Christmas songs they were going to sing. Hermione remembered puffing out her chest, staring down at her parents in the crowd, and belting out the familiar words and- he'd sung along.

Hermione realized that, realistically, he'd been hearing the same song for weeks by then. Hearing it over the weeks of practice they'd done for the concert. So obviously, he knew the words. But Hermione also remembered being so startled to hear a voice inside her that she'd tripped on the spot. She'd gone crashing into the popular girl in front of her during the live concert, which had not helped Hermione make friends. But oh, she couldn't even be mad that the whole thing had been caught on film. Because her soulmate… she had a soulmate-

Hermione drowned in books after that, more so then she had before. Because she had to learn Bulgarian so she could learn Bulgarian songs. And when Hermione learned she was a witch… when she learned soulmates worked a bit differently for people with magic- she'd grown obsessed. More so with the particulars of Holly's soulmate who was so different to anything she'd ever read about.

"Is it like rap?" Hermione repeated, and she abandoned her attempts to disguise her desire to grab her notebooks. Holly and Ron accepted her for who she was, they didn't judge her as she went launching at her bed to grab something to write with. They didn't comment either, not as she threw herself across the bed and wrenched open her side-table to snatch the needed items. Instead, they were thinking hard and ready to answer her by the time she returned to her chair with frantic energy burning inside her.

"What's rap?" Ron asked when she was ready.

"Its a genre of music that Muggles have," Holly filled him in. The magical community was a bit… behind, on music genre's like they seemed to be with everything else. It was in the same way that the magic community didn't have fictional stories, they also didn't have much in the way of music. Most of the songs Holly knew where Muggle ones or ones from her soulmate. Not to mention most of the ones running across the school where from Muggle-borns teaching their magical counterparts the words to the Muggle songs.

Once a Ravenclaw in Charms had set Flickwick off on the topic, he'd completely lost track of his lesson. He'd passionately spoken of the stagnation of historical civilizations and how each one had collapsed vanishing into time. Flitwick explained that their 'culture,' as the pure-bloods so firmly preached about, was important. He then countered that and said if new ideas continued to be denied, magic and their community could collapse like those civilizations. He'd also spoken of how important it was to adapt and had eventually gone off about Vampires and when Vampires, as a species, were a clear sign of where they'd end up in a few centuries. They were basically the poster species for stagnation, considering their inability to adapt to changing eras.

Holly found it thoroughly fascinating. The long and short of the lesson had been that they as a people needed to adapt or they'd go extinct. Though very few had taken Flitwick's words to heart, and didn't that just prove that it may be too late.

"It's… sort of sing-talking, I… don't know how to explain it," Holly hedged, "but… that's not entirely inaccurate, I suppose." It was an interesting thought, was she just rapping with a slightly different manner to the typical? She wasn't rhyming really, she was just talking? But did it count? "Can Muggles hear rap songs from their soulmates?"

"Yes," Hermione answered immediately and scribbled quickly, "Muggles hear them, but it's proven that soulmates cannot hear specific details no matter the genre. I just never imagined you could just talk-sing like that, but realistically, it should have been obvious. Singing is just… stringing words together, so why couldn't we do that?" the only thing was, why had no one done this before? Unless they had? But then why wasn't it common knowledge? "Regardless, the theory is that if I rapped right now about Hogwarts, my soulmate wouldn't hear it. There's a limitation on it, though no one knows why. It's the same with rap as it is with any old song. You cannot sing about your name or your direct location. Nothing that gives off too obvious a hint to where you are."

"You-" Ron made a face, "we've sung the Hogwarts anthem though, isn't that obvious enough?"

"And there's where I get confused!" Hermione pointed her quill at him, "we can sing anthems for locations, but I can't sing out the words 'I live in London,' or 'my name is Hermione,' and no one knows why!"

"But I did," Holly frowned, or did she? Her pirate wasn't exactly able to respond to her right then, so maybe he'd just heard parts of what she'd sung and not everything? Merlin, she couldn't even ask either. Not with him still in the same situation. "Or maybe not..."

Ron leaned back on his hands, and he rested against her bed frame, "Try now?" he suggested.

"You just want me to-" she blushed, "to just sing?" with them right there? Without a song?

"Excellent idea Ronald!" Hermione's head snapped to her, "Do it!"

"Bu- I- hold-" she winced, "fine!"

But what did she start with?

* * *

Shanks kept his hands' palms up in his lap. His eyes were closed, but he was listening carefully to cover for that. The position helped his aching shoulder a bit, what also helped was that Shanks had brutally shoved it back into place an hour or so earlier. Shanks generally knew how it was done thanks to Crocus, and had chosen to do it after the deck above them started to grow louder. The sound of the working crew above him had covered his gasp of shocked pain before he'd smothered the sound.

As yes, the working crew. Shanks had realized, quite unfortunately, that he and Buggy had been placed on a ship shortly after what Shanks assumed to be sun-up. The sway underneath him should have been familiar from the start, but Shanks missed it due to the concussion he was suffering from. On the upside, the working crew was loud and, therefore, covered the hush conversations the prisoners - he refused to refer to any of them as slaves. The people captured with him had clearly gotten their imprisonment down to an art. By observing them, Shanks avoided further suffering.

Watching his fellow prisoners, Shanks came up with a few fundamental rules for his imprisonment.

Rule one, no singing.

Shanks fully intended to break that one as long as he could disguise it, he had a thousand questions for his witch, and it seemed daylight was the best time for it. The night though, that was the worst. The slavers, their jailers, were listening carefully. The men were just looking for the excuse to torture them, especially those considered 'new.' Which involved Buggy, Shanks, and the gaped toothed moron to Shanks' other side. Though that didn't stop the slavers from snatching older prisoners either, so long as they were remotely healthy. A great many of the prisoners had been taken at sun-up and dragged to work. Buggy and the gapped tooth guy had been two of those, though Shanks hadn't due to his injures. Guess the slaver had been correct, they didn't actually want Shanks dead yet.

Buggy still hadn't returned either.

Shanks breathed in slowly, meditating as he tested his chains again. Haki likely could have broken him free, and now that Shanks was calmer, he could actually control it. The downside, they were on a ship - which also explained why Roger hadn't found them yet. Because it was a ship of unknown size, Shanks would have to break free, beat down an entire crew, and sail the boat alone. That just wasn't feasible. So Shanks was playing the waiting game. He'd escape the moment there was an opportunity, or they hit an island, he'd grab Buggy, and he'd bolt.

Now it was just a waiting game.

He breathed out, feeling the edge of sleep, and he pushed it away. The last time he'd let himself sleep, he'd been awoken to burning liquid tossed across his entire body. Everyone asleep had been hit, and his skin was still bright red from it. Shanks suspected the liquid hadn't just been water either. Not with the way it ate through his clothing and continued to brutally sting his open wounds hours later.

Rule two. Don't let the slavers catch you sleeping.

What time was it? He had no idea. How long had it been? Shanks didn't know that either. But time seemed to last forever, and his soulmate had been silent for a long time. She was fine he knew. Probably just sleeping. He reached a hand up and pressed his fingers to his throat. Shanks could still feel the vice the slaver had put around his throat, could still feel it tightening, feel the razor-sharp prongs nudging at his skin and hear the threats. Just a little tighter, and his jugular might be cut. Just a little more, and he'd bleed out. Just a little more and oops, they might damage his voice box permanently.

He breathed in, and it scraped brutally against his throat. Damaged by that liquid, likely the same tossed onto his body, as it was forced down his throat. Shanks could still feel the hand over his mouth stopping him from catching a single breath unless he swallowed-

'Shit,' Shanks thought and opened his eyes and tried to still his shaking hands. He tried to focus his mind on his escape; because he was going to escape. Shanks was going to survive and finally ask the questions he was dying to. He was going to escape and find the island somewhere out there where his little soulmate was waiting for him.

He was going to escape.

Hours passed. The day wore on, and no one came to check on those left in the hold. One of the men rested, a woman silently wept, and Shanks meditated. Shanks didn't think about the numbness in his arm or how the burn in his open wounds only seemed to be growing. He didn't think about the infection setting or how his head was beginning to pound- he clamped his eyes closed when the world spun, and he focused on his breathing.

Sometime in the afternoon, his soulmate started to sing once more. She was raspier than usual and still singing regular conversation. Clearly, that hadn't been a fever dream of his own making and Shanks was relieved for that.

Shanks listened to the rise and fall of the awkward singing, she wasn't yet managing to make talk-singing sound like actual song. Not that Shanks minded. Not as she sang softly about her classes and what she learning, which Shanks found fascinating. The night before, Shanks had been exclusively paying attention to her voice then, now, he was paying attention to the words.

She sang of math classes, of 'runes,' potions, and the difficulty in her classes. She sang in greater detail when Shanks managed a soft, 'explain,' without getting caught. His soulmate was quick to elaborate, to sing about toadstools mixing with bat-wings. Shanks made a face thankful he hadn't been given any food since his capture… or water. He grimaced and tried to meditate again, so his throat stopped burning with need-

_"Anyway, runes, I find much more fun. It's… it's hard to explain, you just match symbols, which creates a type of language in magic."_

Magic. That's what people called devil-fruit users, and Shanks could believe she was a devil-fruit user, but he didn't. It was far more likely that the people of her island possessed some sort of energy like haki, and used it to create what they considered magic. Which made sense, 'magic' and 'witches' had to come from somewhere. The terms didn't just pop out of thin air.

"Witch." Shanks more rasped than sang with utter fondness during a particularly loud exclaim from the deck above. It hurt- it hurt- but he wanted to-

_"Exactly so! I'm a witch!… Does that bother you?"_

'As if,' Shanks thought to himself as the pain ebbed. He instead thought her ability was fascinating, he wondered how she could do what she could. How her 'runes' could create real effects. He couldn't wait to see it in action. "Love it," he dared to sing and regretted it. Wincing, he reached his hands up to grab his throat, and it sent a brutal pang through his injured arm. It left him speechless in pain and gasping. His throat seized, it tightened on the wounds and he couldn't- breathe-

The world squeezed around him- he couldn't breath- and the pain grew- his vision darkened at the edges- he was going to pass… out…

_"Calm down!"_

Calm down- how did she know-

Shanks forced himself to take in a breath, and it felt like he'd swallowed glass. His lungs struggled as he pulled in air, but bit by bit, he relaxed. He regained his breath, and his vision slowly returned. The other prisoners were staring at him, none of them had moved to assist him. It was just as well, they probably couldn't reach him anyway.

_"There… are you alright?"_

"H-how-" he choked with a bitten off a swear. His throat couldn't handle it, he could not keep trying to sing. He had to stop-

_"Figured it out, I can sense when you're awake." She can what?! "I felt you losing consciousness… and I guessed?"_

Shanks internally made a distressed noise, he punched his leg slightly out of frustration. His witchy soulmate was making all these discoveries about their connection, and he couldn't take advantage at all. How was that fair?! First, the talk-singing, and he couldn't actually use it to ask questions. And now she could sense when he was awake? What? How did she even do that? Neither should be even remotely possible, Shanks certainly hadn't heard of anyone doing what she currently was. And he couldn't even ask. Was it an application of haki? Was it because of her 'magic?' was it something they could just do? Did it grow from their connection?

Dammit. Shanks was so curious! Thankfully she was in the mood to elaborate.

_"It happened because I used a time-turner- that's uh… it's a necklace that can send the wearer a few hours into the past. It cut off our connection for me when I was in the past, and when time caught back up-"_ She was making zero sense, what? Shanks scowled into space, feeling his frustration grow, _"No, wait, you're a Muggle… hold on, how do I explain this..."_

Shanks recoiled slightly, what?! What in the Blues was a 'Muggle?'

The nearby door slammed open, and Shanks jumped slightly. The slaver was returning the exhausted slav- prisoners, back to the hold. The man had officially stolen Shanks' chance to ask for his witch's name… for the time being anyway. Shanks might not be escaping yet, but eventually, he would, and he knew the first words that would come out of his mouth once he had.

Shanks instead stared at the door avoiding contact with the slaver, it was a different man than the one who'd tortured him, but that didn't make him any less dangerous. Not as he chained up each prisoner one by one. Every one of them was dragging their bodies. None argued or resisted as they were shoved into place, not even Buggy, who was pale and… and was sporting several new bruises. Shanks' friend was now missing his shirt, and there were several brutal cuts now revealed with its loss. Buggy was also beat red and already pealing… he must have been forced into the sun. Did that mean they were approaching a summer island? If that was the case, then the sunburns would get worse Shanks knew, depending on how long their journey was. Buggy might potentially know, he was quite skilled with their navigation lessons.

Shanks wasn't going to be able to ask though, not as Buggy was chained on the opposite side of the hold. Not as he turned immediately toward the wall and curled up, hiding his body from the world. Shanks bared his teeth to that, to how meek these slavers had made his loud, obnoxious friend. They'd suffer for that.

The slavers left without looking at him, a good thing because Shanks' expression was hardly friendly. If they had Shanks was confident he'd be dragged off for a second session. And as the door closed, Shanks stared at it, it was made of wood and metal, but Shanks was confident he could break it open with haki-

"Shanks,"

He jerked in surprise and shot a look across the room toward Buggy. He and the half a dozen other prisoners watched as Buggy uncurled his body and lifted his face. Shanks exhaled sharply as he caught sight of his friends' face. Buggy's eyes were burning.

"Buggy?" he rasped, feeling an energy build between them.

It seemed he should have had more faith.

"I'm going to kill them," Buggy swore.

"You'll have to-" he choked slightly and struggled through it, "-beat me to them,"

They exchanged a look, and Shanks knew it right away… it was on.

* * *

Simmons pressed his barefoot to the neck of the slaver and heaved a sigh. He never had reclaimed his shoe. The woman would likely toss it… then she would also be unconscious for several hours thanks to Roger, so maybe he could retrieve it after he was finished here? That was a decent idea.

"You- fuck-" Simmons pressed firmly downward and cut off the slavers no doubt violent words. As he did, he lazily fished his mini-den den mushi from his jacket pocket, the same Rouge had tossed his way before he'd left the Jackson. Idly Simmons dialled with bloodied fingers- ah, he could also shower in her apartment, she - what was her name? Hell, he forgot - probably wouldn't mind. The den-den mushi rang as Simmons tossed a look around.

He was surrounded by bloodied corpses, fools who refused to talk and had a rather small amount of critical thinking. Simmons didn't need them. He only needed one of them to speak, and the rest were disposable. It was funny how few people realized that he'd just kill them if they failed to tell him what he wanted. It took six men before the one under his boot decided to talk, though two more had tried to stab him in the back when he'd been asking his questions. They were tied nearby, they'd also enjoy his personal touch when he was finished passing on the needed information.

Roger, well, Roger called him a bounty hunter, but that was strictly… accurate. Simmons had been a bounty-hunter, but his skills ran more toward… information gathering.

_"Speak to me,"_ The lovely Rouge answered the call and Simmons immediately felt himself bow to her order. She was second to Roger, her word as Roger's was law. Rayleigh may be the first-mate, but Rouge was the captains equal, and the intelligent treated her as such.

"Ma'am," he answered, "I've found the culprit… it's not great news."

On the ocean, Rouge hailed Rayleigh and Roger, the former moved close to hear. The latter nodded to show he was listening even though his attention was ahead of them. The weather had not worked with him during this chase. Snow-storms, tsunami-like waves, and lightning had drastically slowed their pursuit. The Grand-line was against them; she stalling them, but not halting them. The latest difficulty? The wind had died, ensuring the men who took their boys put more and more distance between them.

Oh, the ship was still well within Roger's senses, but an actual rescue had to wait until they caught up. Which meant Roger was left tracking the enemy, left to sense what was happening to the kids and going off his expression; it wasn't anything good.

"Tell us," Rouge ordered.

_"It was slavers, no surprises there, only they'd be so ballsy as to take from us."_ The snail sneered as Simmons did, and Rouge's expression matched._ "They used a girl their age to lure them away from the streets, made the kids think they'd found their soulmate."_

"That couldn't be Shanks'" Rayleigh said from Rouge's side, "not with the language his mate speaks. He'd have tested her."

"No, it wasn't Shanks, the kid described was Buggy."

Rouge nodded along, that fit a bit better. Few realized, with how overwhelming Shanks was about his soulmate, how much Buggy cared about his own. Buggy was filled with dreams about the girl that would one day match him, and he was quiet about them, unlike Shanks and his loud declarations. "Is the girl still there?" she asked.

Over the line, Simmons made a thoughtful noise, _"I can sense her nearby… I believe she's a slave herself."_ He'd have to handle that somehow, especially if she was marked. Simmons had a few ideas on what to do though, and knew the crew wouldn't mind his delay, so he didn't bother Rouge with them.

"And the slavers?"

_"They have a base on the island, had a base anyway,"_ the snail's expression turned blood-thirsty, Rouge didn't doubt the man was going to raise the place to the ground. The Roger Pirates blatantly disapproved of slavery, and she knew Simmons had more reasons than most to hate it. _"Good news, they've got a few set bases and are likely heading to Sabaody, you'll be able to head them off there… bad news, they trade with Dragons."_

"We'll have to hurry," Rayleigh spoke up, the same thought racing through his head as Rouge. An automatic fear was built into the undercurrent of their world, a terror and wariness of Celestial Dragon's and their power. It would no surprise either. When a single corrupt noble could have an entire island destroyed on a whim. When so much as looking at one wrong could call a whole Marine armada. Anyone sane wouldn't mess with them, and if they wanted to avoid that, they'd have to get the boys before a celestial dragon became involved. There was also…

Celestial Dragon's slaves always had two things in common. The hoof mark burned into their slave's skin and- and often had… missing tongues.

"Locate a ship and return," Roger spoke up, giving Simmons his next order, he didn't comment on the news. To him, it changed nothing, only their heading. Not that he truly needed it, not as he carefully tracked the boys far out of sight ahead of them. As he felt Buggy's blatant terror and Shanks ruthless determination kept up despite the pain he was feeling. Roger snarled, he turned instead to Rouge and said, "Call our allies, tell them Sabaody."

"Aye, Captain." She obediently responded. Because they were soulmates, but he was still the Captain. She was a part of his crew, and while she was his confidant, and had input in the decisions of the ship, ultimately, Roger was the final word on the ocean. But not on their relationship, as she fondly liked to remind him.

Rouge hung up on Simmons and moved to call their allies. As she did, she knew, Roger was expecting a fight, and it was likely, they were about to declare war to get their boys back.

She doubted anyone would argue either.

* * *

Holly couldn't help but feel Ron and Hermione's eyes on her as they slipped from the dorms. With the dusk settling in and dinner officially over, the other girls had returned to the dorms. The other Gryffindor girls obviously wanted Ron out of the dorms, so the trio had left. They'd snuck straight out of the dorms, the common room, and then to Myrtle's bathroom where no paintings could be found. Together they'd settled, Ron against the bathroom door with an eerie reminder of the year before. Hermione on the floor with her notebooks out. And Holly against that sink.

Her friends were staring at her expectantly. All she had to do was sing her name… just one little sentence but… she was terrified to do it and couldn't explain why.

"This would better if he wasn't unable to sing back to me," Holly told her friends in a regular voice trying to stall for some unknown reason.

"Holly… just do it," Ron pushed, "worse case it doesn't work, you're still a dozen steps up from anyone else."

"Well, why don't you do it then!" she snapped, and Ron rolled his eyes.

"Fine then." Still leaning against the door, he opened his mouth and sang quite calmly, "Hey soulmate, my name is Ron Weasley. I don't know what rhymes with Ron Weasley, and I don't think it really matters. But if you can hear me, sing back, because I want to know you." Then he crossed his arms and waited under Holly and Hermione's intense gazes. After a few minutes, he shrugged.

"Doesn't work for me it seems." He wasn't upset by that. He wasn't. If he kept thinking it, then he might actually believe it.

"It doesn't?" Hermione rushed to write that down before she tried herself in Bulgarian of all things. Holly hadn't known she spoke Bulgarian as fluently as Holly spoke her pirate's language. "my name is Hermione Granger, I want to know you… but can you hear me?" Silence followed her word, then her fall fell. "I suppose not, though I wonder if its the words or maybe Holly is special?" She tapped her quill to her notebook, "I… happen to like cats, mats, and books. You'll find me in the library and with a book in my face… I…" she faltered, "I… want to know you very much." There, no specifics, that had to be better?

Some distance away, a young man stopped dead and nearly walked into a wall. The people around him exclaimed, and several pictures were taken to his embarrassment, but he couldn't help it. He'd just heard his soulmate. After months of feeling a heavy sensation in his connection and now she'd just spoken-sang at him. In the gods' name, he couldn't even respond to her due to how many eyes were on him. No, he dared not sing while being interviewed, not with his fame. People would be claiming all over that they were his match. Veles' he couldn't believe this timing-

Hermione frowned deeply when she gained no response. It hurt more than she was willing to admit. She had hoped… but no.

"Nothing?" Ron asked.

"No, but that could be due to a verity of reasons; I'll have to try again later." As she said this, her hand went to the time-turner hidden under her shirt. Was her use of it the cause? Because that should have worked… had she destroyed her connection in a desire to learn-

"I…" Ron tried to sing before making a face and just saying, "have no idea how you girls are just singing like that. I can't think of a thing."

"Just sing while talking." Holly put forth even though she still hadn't tried to sing her name. She didn't even have the excuse of her pirate being asleep; she could feel that he was conscious.

"Right." Ron tapped his hip, trying to come up with a beat, "I… nope, no, I need lyrics. 'Mione gimme a page, I'm going to write something down." He made a grabbing motion for Hermione's second notebook, which she distractedly handed over. He started to scribble on a free page, preparing to put himself out there. To test and see if he could do what Holly could and seemingly Hermione couldn't… and Holly still hadn't tried to sing out her name.

Merlin. She just had to do it.

"Bloody- dammit-" Holly looked away from the two unable to bare their stares while she did this. Then she sang, "M-my name is Holly… and I already love you-" she choked a bit because she hadn't intended to say that. She couldn't even hide it either, Ron and Hermione were right there. A whimper escaped her throat as her cheeks heated up immensely. He probably couldn't even hear her, and even if he could, he couldn't respond to her.

And silence reigned in her head.

"That's it then," Holly confirmed. "He can't hear me, or at least not that." Or could he? What if he just couldn't respond… it was possible-

"Well, it follows what we know." Hermione reasoned, "now the question is, what exactly is your limit. Can you sing about…"

As Hermione spoke, a world away Shanks was staring into the darkness on his cell, unable to breathe. Nearby the slaver was picking through them, the man paying attention to others this time. Seemingly he believed Shanks was actually defeated, which worked quite well for Shanks. It did, except for the fact that he'd just heard-

_"M-my name is Holly… and I already love you-"_

Holly.

Holly, Holly, Holly… her name was an echo in his head, repeated again and again as he stared at a spot on the wall. His witch, his witch was named Holly, she'd given him her name and Shanks longed to belt out the word but… he didn't. Not because of the slaver, Shanks gave no shits about that man. No, because this was not the place for her name to be spoken. He refused to have the first time he said her name to be while he was a prisoner. She didn't deserve that. His Holly…

Hers would be the first word he'd sing when he was free.

Holly. Shanks hid his smile in his knees, burrowed his face into his pants. It was beautiful, his witch's name. Amusement flickered to life as the slaver passed dangerously close to him. The blasted woman, his damned witch had just- he couldn't believe she'd just done that to him now. He had a cruel soulmate, offering him such a precious word when he couldn't respond to her. One day he'll make her suffer for that. The sheer amount of teasing he'd put her through… ah, he knew what he'd do; she'd have to work to earn his name in return—the perfect revenge for this.

Shanks still smiled as he thought about it.

Soon she'd have to work for it, and one day she'd be his. His to hold, his to love. As soon as he got off this damned ship, back to his crew, and finally found her island, she would be his. They'd sail the seas together, learn every song they could. He'd introduce her to the captain, and eventually, she'd be his better half with their own crew. They'd party it up. Sing freely and openly and just live- gods, what he'd do with her, do to her.

Holly. His soulmate.

Shanks couldn't wait.


End file.
